
WITH 

ORIGINAL TRANSLATIONS 

IN FOUR PARTS 

I. DIES IRJE (In Thirteen Versions) 

II. STABAT MATER (Dolorosa) 

III. STABAT MATER (Speciosa) 

IV. OLD GEMS IN NEW SETTINGS 

i/ BY 

ABRAHAM COLES, M. D., LL. D. 



ILLUSTRATED 





NEW YORK 
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
1892 




COPYRIGHTED ACCORDING TO LAW, BY 

J. Ackerman Coles, M. D. 
1892 



The Library 
of Congress 

washington 



NEWARK, N. J. 
ADVERTISER PRINTING HOUSE, 
1892 



DIES IRM. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE FRONTISPIECE. 



THE " Dies Irae" of painting by the greateft of paint- 
ers, Michel Angelo's famous fresco of the Laft Judg- 
ment, confeffedly the moft extraordinary picture in the 
hiftory of Art, occupies the end wall of the Siftine Chapel at 
Rome, and is forty-five feet wide by fifty-seven feet high. 
It was completed and firff. thrown open to the public on 
Chriftmas Day, 1546. The artift was then in his sixty- 
seventh year, and had been employed on the paintings and 
cartoons nearly nine years. " We have seen," says one, 
" Michel Angelo, and he is terrible." In the centre of this 
vaft compofition, confifting of at lead two hundred figures in 
every conceivable attitude, appears the majeftic form of the 
Saviour in the a£t of pronouncing sentence upon the wicked, 
" Depart," etc. By his fide is the Virgin. Near her, to- 
wards the right, is a figure with the back turned, done in the 
ftyle of the fined antique ; and next beyond is Adam, ex- 
preffing by the contour of his members and his relaxed 
muscles extreme old age. Between these two, half-way 
down, can be seen a face, with long flowing beard, answer- 
ing to our idea of an ancient patriarch. Farther to the 
right is a woman, defigned with exquifite grace and ele- 
gance, with a young girl clinging to her and hiding her face 
in terror. On the left of the Saviour, the Hooping figure is 
Peter, in the a£r. of surrendering the keys ; the face close to 
his is Moses. The group behind represents the prophets in 
ftudied and finking attitudis. Below are the martyrs, with 
the symbols of their sufferings. Juft at the feet of the Vir- 
gin is St. Lawrence, with his gridiron {la graticola) ; then 
comes St. Bartholomew, with a knife in one hand and his 
(kin in the other ; St. Catharine is known by her broken 
wheel ; St. Hippolytus, by his currycombs with iron teeth ; 
St. Sebaftian, by his arrows held in his left hand. Higher up 
is St. Andrew on a cross, a fine figure. Above and around 
is an innumerable company of the blelfed. In the angles at 



DESCRIPTION OF THE FRONTISPIECE. 

the higheft part are angels, bearing, on one fide, the cross, the 
crown of thorns, the dice used in cafting lots on Chrift's 
garment ; and on the other, the pillar of scourging, etc. 
Far below is another group of angels, blowing seven trum- 
pets to wake the dead, two of them holding in their hands 
the books of life and death. At the right, near the bottom, 
are seen the dead in all ftages of decay, quickened and 
flowly rifing, — saints and angels aflifting the righteous in their 
ascent to heaven. In one case a demon makes conteft for 
poflemon. On the left is presented the terrific spectacle of 
the condemned dragged down by demons, — among them, a 
wicked pope, with the keys in his hand, falling headlong 
the prey or exultant fiends ; also a licentious cardinal, a liv- 
ing contemporary of the artift. " Forms and faces," says 
one, " more trembling and convulsed with despair were never 
embodied or conceived." Charon, the infernal ferryman, in 
accordance with Dante's description, — 

" With eyes of burning coal, collects them all, 
Beckoning, and each that lingers with his oar 
Strikes." Inferno, Canto iii. v v. 102-104. 

In the extreme left corner, at the loweft point, are two 
heads, "one a cowl unto the other," borrowed likewise from 
Dante, — Count Ugolino gnawing the fkull of his enemy:—- 

" Upon the wretched fkull his teeth 
He faftened, like a maftiff's, 'gainft the bone 
Firm and unyielding." 

Inferno Canto xxxiii. vv. 74-76. 

Close by is Midas, with afPs ears -and serpent around the 
body, — a likeness of, it is said, and a savage satire upon, 
Meifer Biaggio, his critic. At the foot Of the picture, in the 
middle, is the pit of hell, with demons at its mouth.— -The 
miniature copy here given, photographed from an outline 
engraving by Piroli, fint publilhed at J^aris in 1808, faithful 
and full, down to the minuteft anatomical details, was deemed 
not an inappropriate embellifhment to this volume. If d^« 
fired, it can be indefinitely magnified by a glass. 



THE LAST JUDGMENT. 

(MICHAEL ANGELO.) 



in vvt 



a 



IN 

THIRTEEN ORIGINAL VERSIONS 

BY 

ABRAHAiM COLES, M. D., Ph.D. 

SIXTH EDITION. 



NEW YORK 
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
1 891 



1*1' 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



DIES IR^E. 

Last Judgment. (M. Angelo — Rubens — Cornelius). 
O what fear shall it engender, 
When the Judge shall come in splendor, 
Strict to mark and just to render ! 

Christus Reniunerator. (Ary Scheffer.) 

Be there, Lord, my place decided, 
With Thy sheep from goats divided, 
Kindly to Thy right hand guided ! 

STABAT MATER (Dolorosa). 

Mary at the Cross. (Carlo Dolce — Paul Delaroche). 
Stood th' afflicted mother weeping, 
Near the cross her station keeping, 
Whereon hung her Son and Lord. 

STABAT MATER (Speciosa). 

Nativity. La Notte. (Correggio). 

Virgin and' Child. Madonna di San Sisto. (Ra- 
phael.) 
Oh what grace to her allotted, 
Blessed mother and unspotted 
Of the Sole Begotten One ! 



VI ILLUSTRATIONS. 

OLD GEMS IN NEW SETTINGS 

St. Augustine and his Mother} /A ■, & ^ 
Hope and Faith j ( A >7 Scheffer.) 

O country most dear, our longing eyes here 
As they view thee afar with desire are aching. 

Ecstasy and Prayer. (Landelle.) 

My innermost eyes, thus piercing the skies, 

From the mind's highest peaks delighted behold thee. 



Now in thee I am glad, now in me I am sad, 

I sob and I sigh with breast heaving and swelling. 



INTRODUCTION. 



T would be difficult to find, in the 
whole range of literature, a production 
to which a profounder intereft attaches 
than to that magnificent canticle of the 
Middle Ages, the DIES IRJE. Fattening on that 
v/hich is indeftruclible in man, and giving fitter ex- 
preffion than can elsewhere be found, to experiences 
and emotions which can never cease to agitate him, 
it has loft after the lapse of fix centuries none of its 
original frefhness and transcendent power to affecT: 
the heart. It has commanded alike the admiration 
of men of piety and men of tafte. By common con- 
sent, it is as Daniel remarks : sacrez poeseos summum 
decus et E celestes Latina Ketfi^liov est pretiofijfimum. 
Among gems it is the diamond. It is solitary in 




vi 



INTRODUCTION. 



'ts excellence. Of Latin Hymns, it is the beft 
known and the acknowledged mafterpiece. There 
are others which pofless much sweetness and beauty, 
but this ftands unrivalled. It has superior beauties, 
with none of their defects. For the mod: part they 
are more or less Romifh, but this is Catholic, and 
not Romifh at all. It is universal as humanity. It 
is the cry of the human. It bears indubitable marks 
of being a personal experience. 

The author is supposed to have been a monk : an 
incredible suppofition truly did we not know that a 
monk is also a man. One thing is certain, that the 
monk does not appear, and that it is the man only 
that speaks. He no longer dreams and drivels. He 
is effectually awake. The veil is lifted. He sees 
Chrift coming to Judgment. All the tumult and the 
terror of the Laft Day are present to him. The final 
pause and syncope of Nature ; the fhuddering of a 
horror-ftruck Universe ; the down-rufhing and wreck 
of all things — all are present. But these material 
circumftances of horror and amazement, he feels are 
as nothing compared with " the infinite terror of 
being found guilty before the Juft Judge." This 



INTRODUCTION. 



vii 



fingle confideration swallows up every other. The 
interefts of an eternity are crowded into a moment. 

One great secret of the power and enduring popu- 
larity of this Hymn is, undoubtedly, its genuineness. 
A vital fincerity breathes throughout. It is a cry de 
trofundis ; and the cry becomes sometimes — so in- 
tense are the terror and solicitude — almoft a fhriek. 
It is in the higher! degree pathetic. The Muse 
is " Mater Lachrymarum, Our Lady of Tears." 
Every line weeps. Underneath every word and syl- 
lable, a living heart throbs and pulsates. The very 
rhythm, or that alternate elevation and depreffion of 
the voice, which prosodifts call the arfis and the 
tbe/is, one might almoft fancy were synchronous 
with the contraction and the dilatation of the heart. 
It is more than dramatic. The horror and the dread 
are real : are actual not acted. A human heart is 
laid bare, quivering with life, and we see and hear its 
tumultuous throbbings. We sympathize — nay, be- 
fore we are aware, we have changed places. We, 
too, tremble and quail and cry aloud. 

All true Lyric Poetry is subjective. The Dies 
Jrje is, as we have seen, remarkable for its intense 



viii 



INTRODUCTION. 



subjectivity ; and whoever duly appreciates this char- 
acterise, will have little difficulty in underftanding 
its superior effectiveness over everything else that 
has been written on the same theme. The life of 
the writer has paffed into it and informs it, so that it 
is itself alive. It has vital forces and emanations. 
Its life mingles with our life. It enters into our 
veins and circulates in our blood. A virtue goes out 
from it. It is electrically charged, and contact is 
inftantly followed by a mock and fhuddering. 

Springing from its subjectivity, if not identical with 
it, we would further notice, the intenfifying effect of 
what may be called its personalism, in other words 
its ego-ism. It is I and not We. Substitute the 
plural pronoun for the fingular, and it would lose 
half its pungency. We have had occafion to observe 
the weakening effect of this in tranflation. The 
truth is, the feeling is of a kind too concentrated and 
too exacting to allow itself to be diffipated in the 
vagueness of any grouping generality. The heart 
knoweth its own bitterness. There is a grief that 
cannot be fhared, neither can it be joined on to 
another's. It is not social nor common. It is mine 



INTRODUCTION. 



ix 



and not yours. It is exclufive, not because it is sel- 
fish, but because it has depths beyond the soundings 
of ordinary sympathy. 

This is especially true of some of the intenser 
forms of religious experience, proceeding as they do 
from that which is moft intimate and innermoft, the 
penetralia of a man's consciousness, his moil: secret 
and peculiar self. There is an inner and privileged 
sanctuary of the heart, which is kept as a chamber 
locked up. It is hidden and sacred. It may be, 
that the individual, dwelling habitually in the outer 
courts of his being, rarely if ever enters into it him- 
self. For man is twofold. A veil divides between 
the outer and the inner man. Gross and sensual, 
the majority of mankind are averse to lifting the con- 
cealing medium, for fear of unwelcome revelations 
and discoveries respecting themselves. Goethe is an 
example of this portentous preference for half knowl- 
edge : " Man," he says, " is a darkened being ; he 
knows not whence he came, nor whither he goes ; 
he knows little of the world and less of himself. I 
know not myself, and may God protect me from it." 

In converfion to God this veil is rent from top to 
b 



X 



INTRODUCTION. 



bottom. There is a self-revelation. Behind the 
curtain, there in the Moft Holy Place, where ought 
to be the Shekinah, the mining, senfible Manifefta- 
tion of the Divine Presence, he beholds the Abomi- 
nation of Iniquity set up. He awakes to the ftart- 
ling facl: that he is " without God and without hope 
in the world." A voice of urgency is sounding in 
his ears : " Flee from the Wrath to Come." He 
anticipates the terrors of the Judgment. He feels 
that there is not a moment to lose. Instinct 
prompts, and the Word of God enjoins, that he seek 
to save himself firft. He knows not whether others 
are in as bad a case as he. But of his own guilt and 
danger he has no doubt. An offended Maker con- 
fronts him, him in particular. So he prays and ago- 
nizes. His may not be " the thews which throw the 
world" — he is conscious of weakness rather than 
ftrength — yet fingly and alone, he wreftles with God 
like Jacob, and prevails like Israel. 

The Hymn is not only lyrical in its eflence, but 
also in its form. It is inftincl: with rnufic. It fings 
itself. The grandeur of its rhythm, and the afro- 
nance and chime of its fit and powerful words, are, 



INTRODUCTION. 



xi 



even in the ears of those unacquainted with the Latin 
language, suggeftive of the richeft and mightieft har- 
monies. The verse is ternary ; and the ternary 
number, having been efteemed anciently a symbol 
of perfection and held in great veneration, may pos- 
sibly have had something to do with the choice of 
the ftrophe. Be this as it may, its metrical ftruc- 
ture, as all agree, conftitutes by no means the leaft of 
its extraordinary merits* Trench, in his Selections 
from Latin Poetry, speaks of the metre as being 
grandly devised, and fitted to bring out some of the 
nobleft powers of the Latin language ; and as being, 
moreover, unique, forming the only example of the 
kind that he remembers. He notices the solemn 
effect of the triple rhyme, comparable to blow fol- 
lowing blow of the hammer on the anvil. Knapp, in 
his Liederschatz, likens the original to a blaft from 
the trump of resurrection, and declares its power 
inimitable in any tranflation. 




HISTORY OF THE HYMN. 



HE authorfhip of the Dies Irae is as- 
cribed, apparently upon good grounds, 
to Thomas of Celano, so called from a 
small town of that name in Italy. He 
was a friend and pupil and subsequently the biog- 
rapher of St. Francis of Affifi, the founder of the 
order of Minorites, (called also Friars-Minor, Grey 
Friars or Franciscans, being one of the four orders 
of mendicant friars,) instituted in 1208. Wadding, 
an Irifhman and a Minorite, who lived in the firft 
half of the seventeenth century, and who wrote a 
hiflory of his order, expreffly refers it to Celano. 
He mentions two other hymns or Sequences com- 
posed by him, one beginning : Fregit vlftor virtua- 
lis ; the other : Sanffitatis nova figna. The circum- 




i 



xiv 



HISTORY OF THE HYMN. 



ftance of the Dominican Sixtus Senenfis affecting 
to sneer at it, calling it rhythmus inconditus^ is re- 
garded as confirmatory of the opinion, that it was at 
leaft the work of a Franciscan ; the bitter rivalries 
subfifting between the two orders affording, it is 
thought, the moff. plaufible explanation of a criticism 
so manifeftly splenetic and unjuft. Another cor- 
roborative circumftance is its early admiflion into 
the Franciscan MilTals, by which means a knowl- 
edge of it w?« spread throughout Europe. The 
correctness of this inference is further suftained by 
the fact, that, inscribed on a marble flab in the 
Franciscan Church of St. Francis at Mantua, was 
found one of the earlieft copies of the hymn, rep- 
resenting, it is believed, the text as it came from 
the hands of the author. Dr. Mohnike, a learned 
and able editor of the Dies Irae, furnifhes an old 
copy of the Mantuan text, which differs from the 
Received Text chiefly in this, that the firft four 
ftanzas are additional. They are here given with 
a tranflation annexed ; also the heading which is as 
follows : 



HISTORY OF THE HYMN. 



XV 



Meditatio Vetufta et Venufta 

de Noviffimo Judicio 
quae Mantuae in aede D. Francisci in 

marmore legitur. 

i. Cogita, anima fidelis, 
Ad quid respondere velis, 
Chrifto venturo de coelis. 

Weigh with solemn thought and tender, 
What response, thou, Soul, wilt render, 
Then when Chrift mall come in splendor 

a. Cum deposcet rationem 
Ob boni omiflionem, 
Ob mali commiffionem. 

And thy life mall be inspected, 
All its hidden guilt detected, 
Evil done and good negle&ed. 

3. Dies ilia, dies irae, 

Quam conemur praevenire 
Obviamque Deo ire ; 

For that day of vengeance neareth 
Ready be each one that heareth 
God to meet when He appeareth. 



XVI 



HISTORY OF THE HYMN. 



4. Seria contritione, 

Gratiae apprehenlione, 
Vita; emendatione. 

By repenting, by believing, 

By God's offered grace receiving, 

By all evil courfes leaving. 

The succeeding fixteen verfes are the same, with 
flight variations, as those of the Church or Received 
text \ but in place of the next verse, which forms 
the 17th of this, beginning : Oro supplex et acclinis, 
the Mantuan copy has the following for its 21ft and 
concluding ftanza : 

ai. Confors ut beatitatis 
Vivam cum jufcificatis 
In sevum aeternitatis. Amen. 

That in fellowfhip fraternal 

With inhabitants supernal 

I may live the life eternal. Amen. 

That the abbreviation of the poem, by the omis- 
fion of the four opening ftanzas, adds greatly to its 
general, and ftill more to its lyric effectiveness, there 
can be no doubt. The rejected verfes, partaking of 



HISTORY OF THE HYMN. 



XVII 



a quiet and meditative character, impair the force of 
the lyric element. In its present form, all is vehe- 
ment ftir and movement, from the grand and ftart- 
ling abruptness of its opening, to the sweet and 
powerful pathos of its solemn and impreffive close. 

Befides Celano, various other names have had 
their supporters for the honor of the authorfhip of 
this poem. It has been attributed to Gregory the 
Great, who lived at a period some fix hundred 
years earlier. But this would involve the neceffity 
of suppofing that a poem of such extraordinary merit 
could remain unknown and unnoticed during so 
many centuries, which is not at all likely. Befides, 
it is certain, that, while rhyme was not altogether 
unknown or unused at that time, it had by no means 
reached that ftate of perfection which this poem 
exhibits.* 

Leonard Meifter, a Swiss writer, claimed that 
Felix Hammerlin, (Latinized into Malleolus,) a 
Church dignitary of Zurich, born in 1389, and who 
died about 1457, was the author of Dies Irae, because 
among Hammerlin's poems he found a manuscript 
of this hymn ; but the evidence is quite conclufive, 
* See Appendix — Origin of Latin Rhyme. 



xviii 



HISTORY OF THE HYMN. 



that the hymn was in exiftence before his time. In 



17. Oro supplex a ruinis, 
Cor contritum quafi cinis : 
Gere curam mei finis ! 

From the ruins of creation, 
Make I contrite supplication : 
Interpose for my salvation ! 

18. Lachrymosa die ilia, 
Cum resurget ex favilla, 
Tanquam ignis ex scintilla, 

On that day of woe and weeping, 
When, like fire from spark upleaping, 
Starts, from afhes where he's fleeping 9 

19. Judicandus homo reus, 
Huic ergo parce, Deus ! 
Efto semper adjutor meus ! 

Man account to Thee to renders 
Spare the miserable offender ! 
Be my Helper and Defender ! 




HISTORY OF THE HYMN. 



XiX 



20. Quando coeli sunt movendi, 
Dies adsunt tunc tremendi, 
Nullum temp us poenitendi. 

When the heavens away are flying, 
Days of trembling then and crying. 
For repentance time denying; 

21. Sed salvatis laeta dies, 
Et damnatis nulla quies, 
Sed dsemonum effigies. 

To the saved a day of gladness, 
To the damned a day of sadness, 
Demon forms and fliapes of madness. 

22. O tu Deus majeftatis, 
Alme candor Trinitatis, 
Nunc conjunge cum beatis ! 

God of infinite perfection, 
Trinity's serene reflection, 
Give me part with the ele&ionj 

23. Vitam meam fac felicem 
Propter tuam genetricem, 
Jefle florem et radicem. 



XX 



HISTORY OF THE HYMN". 



Happiness upon me mower, 

For Thy Mother's sake, with power 

Who is Jeffe's root and flower. 

24. Prasfta nobis tunc levamen, 
Dulce noftrum fac certamen 4 
Ut clamemus omnes, Amen ! 

From Thy fulness comfort pour us, 
Fight Thou with us or fight for us, 
So we'll fhout, Amen, in chorus. 

Taking for granted that the Mantuan was the 
original text, it would follow that the truncation of 
the four introductory verfes spoken of had already 
taken place at the time of Hammerlin ; and it is 
furthermore obvious that the 17th and 1 8th verfes 
of the Received Text muft have been formed out of 
the firft three of the supplemented verfes of Ham- 
merlin, as follows, viz. : by subftituting, in the 17th 
verse, " et acclinis " for "a ruinis,'" and taking 
the firft two lines of the two succeeding verfes, 
being triplets, to make up the 18th verse, which 
confifts of four lines. Bating a few verbal varia- 
tions, the firft fixteen verfes of the Hammerlin and 



HISTORY OF THE HYMN. 



xxi 



Church texts correspond. The laft named is founded 
on the Roman Miffal firft publifhed in 1567, under 
the sanction and after the revifion of the Council of 
Trent. It forms the bafis of the present, as it does 
of moft tranflations. 

A brief reference to some of the more important 
variations in the text, and an explanation of certain 
allufions which occur therein, may not be unintereft- 
ing. The firft line, Dies irce, dies ilia, plainly 
points to a paffage of Scripture from the Vulgate, — 
Zephaniah I. 15. The whole verse reads thus : 
" Dies ir^:, dies illa, dies tribulationis et anguftiae, 
dies calamitatis et miseriae, dies tenebrarum et caligi- 
nis, dies nebulae et turbinis, dies tubae et clangoris." 
In the third line, the change of the Mantuan read- 
ing, " Petro " into " David," as it now ftands, 
may have been due, it is conjectured, to a feeling 
that there was greater appropriateness in David's 
being afibciated with the ante-Chriftian Sibyl. From 
the averfion felt to the introduction of a heathen 
Sibyl into a Chriftian and ftill more a Church 
hymn, a Miffal of the diocese of Metz, publifhed in 
1778, rejecting the third line, adopts, but without 



xxii 



HISTORY OF THE HYMN. 



the authority of a fingle manuscript, another reading 
as follows : 

Dies irae, dies ilia, 
Crucis expandens vexilla, 
Solvet sseclum in favilla. 

Day of wrath, that day amazing, 
High the bannered cross upraifing, 
While the universe is blazing. 

The allufion here is to the fign of the coming of 
the Son of Man in heaven, mentioned in Matthew 
xxiv. 3 j and is indicative of the belief, that the fign 
there spoken of would have its fulfilment in the 
apparition of a cross in the Iky. But the older and 
the true reading is doubtless the other, which refers 
to the Sibyl as bearing concurrent teftimony with 
the prophet of the Old or the New Teftament, 
David or Peter, (Psalm xcvi. 13; xcvii. 3; xi. 
6 ; 2 Peter iii. 7,) touching the definition of the 
world and the final judgment. The 2d, 7th, and 8th 
books of the " Sibylline Oracles " are full of pas- 
sages which refer to these, but it is probable that the 
reference here is more immediately to verfes ex- 



HISTORY OF THE HYMN. 



xxiii 



tra&ed therefrom, found in La&antius (Divin. In- 
ftitut. lib. vii. De Vita Beata, cap. 16-24). ^ n tne 
earlier ages of the Church, these pretended prophecies 
were regarded with no little veneration ; wherefore 
it is by no means uncommon to find Chriftian writ- 
ers placing them fide by fide with Scriptural proph- 
ecies, and, as in the case before us, making solemn 
appeal to them. The discovery of their true char- 
acter as worthless forgeries was reserved for a later 
period. 

This poem, which, there is every reason to believe, 
was originally the inspiration of retirement, the soli- 
tary outpouring of 

" a suppliant heart all crufhed 
And crumbled into contrite duft," — 

to adopt the language of Crafhaw's verfion at the 17th 
verse, — came afterwards, when it had pafTed into 
Church use, to receive the title of Sequence, from 
the place affigned to it in the service of the Mass 
for the Dead. The precise time when this occurred 
cannot be determined, but it muft have been early, 
for Albizzi speaks of it as being in common use 
as a Sequence in 1385. For an explanation of this 



xxiv 



HISTORY OF THE HYMN. 



term, the reader is referred to the Appendix at the 
end of this volume. 

If the origin of the hymn be somewhat obscure, 
not so have been its subsequent fortunes. Through 
the long centuries that have elapsed fmce the 
time it firft became known to the world, its ex- 
traordinary merits have been fteadily recognized* 
Its light has been that of a ftar, whose keen and 
diamond luftre intermits not nor grows dim, but 
fhines on the same from age to age. Its million 
from the beginning has been one of power. To 
some, there is reason to believe, it has been " the 
power of God unto salvation." Scattered every- 
where along its track are seen the luminous foot- 
prints of its victorious progress as the subduer of 
hearts. The greateft minds have delighted to bear 
teftimony to its worth. Goethe evinced his appre- 
ciation of it by introducing certain verses of it into 
his "Fault," — with how grand an effect we all know., 
Boswell relates of Dr. Johnson, that, " when he 
would try to repeat the celebrated Prosa Ecclefiajiica 
■pro Mortuis, beginning : Dies ires, dies ilia, he could 
never pass the Itanza ending thus : Tantus labor non 
fit cajfus, without burfting into a flood of tears." 



HISTORY OF THE HYMN. 



XXV 



It is said that Ancina, a Profeflbr of Medicine ir. 
the Univerfity of Turin, was so ftrongly affected by 
hearing one day the Dies Irse chanted in the service 
for the dead, that he determined to abandon the 
world. He afterwards became Bifhop of Saluzzo. 
iVTilman, in his " Hiftory of Chriftianity," speaking of 
the Latin poetry of the Chriftian Church, remarks : 
" There is nothing, in my judgment, to be compared 
with the monkifh Dies irce, dies ilia." To these 
names might be added those of many other eminent 
scholars and critics, all bearing like teftimony. But 
the crowning proof of its unrivalled excellence is 
found in the fact, that, mingled with the fighs and 
gaspings of diffolving Nature, the measured beat of 
its melodious rhythm has been so often heard \ now, 
it may be, in the soft murmur of words half audible, 
and now in the clear tones of a diftincl: utterance, 
iffuing from the pale and trembling lips of the dying. 
The Earl of Roscommon, we are told, repeated with 
great energy and devotion, in the moment when he 
expired, two lines of his own tranllation of the 17th 
verse : — 

" My God, my Father, and my Friend, 
Do not forsake me in my end!" 
d 



xxvi 



HISTORY OF THE HYMN. 



Sir Walter Scott evinced his regard for it in the same 
affecting manner, during his laft hours : cc We very 
often," says his biographer, " heard diftinctly the 
cadence of the Dies Irae." 

It is certainly somewhat remarkable, that, while 
thus solemnly affociated with the dying moments of 
these two illuftrious mafters of song, who had likewise 
employed their pens in the talk of rendering it into 
Englifli, it mould have had a connection not diflim- 
ilar with the death of that great composer by whose 
means this immortal poem has come to be worthily 
wedded to immortal mufic. It is well known that 
Mozart's Requiem is founded on it. This, his 
greater! work, perhaps, was deftined also to be his 
laft, of which, it is said, he had a solemn presenti- 
ment. His death occurred before it was entirely 
finifhed. Befides Mozart, other diftinguifhed com- 
posers, such as Cherubini, Haydn, Jomelli, Palaftrina, 
and Pergolefi, have exercised their genius upon the 
same theme and the same text. 




TRANSLATIONS OF THE HYMN. 



HE number of tranflations made of this 
hymn into different languages it were 
not easy to eftimate. Those in Ger- 
man are particularly numerous. In a 
work dedicated to these, edited by Dr. F. G. Lisco, 
(Berlin, 1840,) as many as seventy verfions, more or 
less complete, are given ; the number being further 
increased three years afterwards by the addition of 
seventeen others, appended to a volume of tranfla- 
tions, by the same editor, of the Stabat Mater.* 

* For the loan of both the above works the writer is in- 
debted to the Rev. William R. Williams, D. D., who, in a 
Note, afterwards somewhat enlarged and thrown into an Appen- 
dix, affixed to an Address on the " Conservative Principle of 
our Literature," firft publifhed in 1843, and subsequently in- 
cluded in his volume of " Miscellanies," has, with his usual 




XXV1U TRANSLATIONS OF THE HYMN. 



There is one in French, one in Romaic or Modern 
Greek, one in Dutch, and one in Latin, all the reft 
being German. In nearly every case, pains have 
been taken to preserve the exact measure and form 
of the original. The superior flexibility of the Ger- 
man, and its greater supply of words adapted for 
double rhyme, give tranflators in that language a 
decided advantage. The difficulty involved in tripli- 
cating the double rhymes, owing to the poverty of 
our language in words suitable for the purpose, with- 
out practifing awkward and inelegant inverfions, is 
probably the reason why English tranflators, even 
where they have been careful to retain the triplet 
form of the ftanza, have failed to preserve the 
rhyming close. 

Crafhaw's, one of the oldeft and nobleft of the 
English tranflations, and which in the opinion of an 
eminent critic was not surpaflfed by anything he ever 
wrote, is done in quatrains, or fingle rhymed couplets 

eloquence and exhauftive learning, given a very full and inftruc- 
tive account of this hymn and its tranflations ; adding in the 
later editions a verfion of his own, one of the first made in 
ternary double rhyme. 



TRANSLATIONS OF THE HYMN. XXIX 



repeated ; and, on account of the freeness of the ren- 
dering, might more properly be called a reproduction 
than a tranflation. The Earl of Roscommon, cele- 
brated in Dryden's verse as the greateft poet of his 
time, was the author of a verfion praised by Pope 
as the beft of his poetical performances ; although he 
is confidered as having borrowed both from Crafhaw 
and Dryden. It is in triplets like the original, but 
without double rhyme, and the verse is iambic in- 
ftead of trochaic. 

The few verfes introduced by Sir Walter Scott 
into the " Lay of the Laft Minftrel," and which have 
found their way into almoft all the more recent Col- 
lections of Hymns used in our Churches, though 
spirited and impreffive, can scarcely be called a trans- 
lation, being little more than an echo of one or two 
of the leading sentiments of the Latin original. 
Another familiar hymn, contained in moft Hymn 
books, commencing, 

" Lo ! He comes in clouds descending," 

purports to be a tranflation of the Dies Irae ; but 
in respect neither to form nor spirit does it corre- 



XXX TRANSLATIONS OF THE HYMN. 



spond very accurately to the original. Although there 
are other verfions of more or less merit, some made 
by our own scholars, a further enumeration might be 
tedious. " It is not wonderful," as Trench remarks, 
"that a poem such as this mould have continually 
allured and continually defied tranflators." 

The Author of the Tranflations here publilhed 
scarcely knows how to fhield himself from the im- 
putation of presumption to which his attempt ex- 
poses him. The number of his verfions is Thir- 
teen. The first fix have the somewhat rare merit, 
so far at leaft as Englifh verfions are concerned, of 
being metrically conformed, both as it respects 
rhyme and rhythm, to the original. The five suc- 
ceeding ones are like in rhythm, but vary from the 
original in not preserving the double rhyme. The 
one which follows is in iambic triplets, like Roscom- 
mon's ; and the laft in quatrains, after the manner 
of Crafhaw's verfion. 

It has been the aim of the Tranflator to be in all 
cafes as faithful as pofiible to the senfe and spirit 
of the original, and likewise to the letter, but not 
so flavifhly as to preclude variety. He has en- 



TRANSLATIONS GF THE HYMN. 



XXXI 



deavored to carry out likeness in unlikeness, and to 
give to each verfion, so far as practicable, the inteieii 
of a diftinct poem. How far he has succeeded 
others muft judge. The preservation of the double 
rhyme involved some special difficulties, which he has 
overcome as well as he could ; but he would not be 
surprised if some readers preferred the ealier metres, 
and indulges the hope that the multiplication of ver- 
fions may serve, among other things, to meet this 
diverfity of tafte. But there are some, if he mis- 
takes not, who enjoy those pleasing surprises in 
viewing an object, that result from an altered atti- 
tude and a new angle of vision, — the curious changes 
which follow every fresh turn of a revolving kaleido- 
scope, — and the writer is willing therefore to believe 
that such, at any rate, will not be displeased at this 
attempt to supply the deficiency of one verfion by 
another and yet another, in the hope that thereby 
the original may be exhibited, approximately at least, 
in its solid entireness. 

Young, in his " EfTay on Lyric Poetry," afferts 
that difficulty overcome gives grace and pleasure, 
and he accounts for the pleasure of rhyme in general 



XXX11 TRANSLATIONS OF THE HYMN . 



upon this principle. Having failed in his own case 
to afford an exemplification of great success in this 
particular, his critic and biographer, Johnson, some- 
what sarcaftically remarks : " But then the writer 
muft take care that the difficulty is overcome ; that 
is, he muft make rhyme confift with as perfect 
senfe and expreffion as would be expected, if he 
were perfectly free from that fhackle." Hence, the 
greater the difficulties to be surmounted, the greater 
is the need of elaboration, until art conceals art. 

The present Tranflator, recognizing fully the pro- 
priety of the rule here ftated, does not feel that he 
has any right to plead the arduousness of his tafk, as 
an excuse for any inftances, if such there be, of 
forced and unnatural conftru£f.ion, resorted to in 
order to meet the exigencies of rhyme or metre. 
What is called poetic license is, he is aware, a 
license of power and grace, and not of weakness and 
deformity, being tantamount to a license to dance or 
fing, in place of ordinary walking or speaking. Po- 
etic chains, undoubtedly, were meant not to confine 
and cripple, but to regulate movement in conformity 
with settled laws ; the objecl: being, not to punifh 



TRANSLATIONS OF THE HYMN. XXX1I1 



speech, but to exalt and honor it, — to grace language, 
not disgrace it. 

To preserve,. in connection with the utmost fidelity 
and ftrictness of rendering, all the rhythmic merits 
of the Latin original, — to attain to a vital likeness as 
well as to an exact literalness, at the same time that 
nothing is sacrificed of its mufical sonorousness and 
billowy grandeur, easy and graceful in its swing as 
the ocean on its bed, — to make the verbal copy, 
otherwise cold and dead, glow with the fire of lyric 
passion, — to reflect, and that too by means of a fingle 
verfion, the manifold aspects of the many-sided orig- 
inal, exhaufting at once its wonderful fulness and 
pregnancy, — to cause the white light of the primitive 
so to pass through the medium of another language 
as that it mall undergo no refraction whatever, — 
would be defirable, certainly, were it practicable ; 
but so much as this it were unreasonable to expect 
in any tranflation. 

All the verfions here given were written and nearly 
ready for the press more than two years ago ; but, 
influenced partly by a senfe of their imperfectness, 
and partly by a doubt as to the reception that a book 



XXXiv TRANSLATIONS OF THE HYMN. 



exclufively devoted to a fingle hymn might meet 
with from the public, the Translator has delayed 
their appearance until now, when, encouraged by 
the favorable opinion expreffed by some, whose 
names, were it proper to give them, would be re- 
garded, he doubts not, as an apology for his bold- 
ness, he ventures the experiment of publication. 
He does not deny that the amount of public favor 
that has been already accorded to two of the ver- 
fions, viz., those marked 1. and II., publifhed anony- 
moufly in the "Newark Daily Advertiser" sev- 
eral years fince, the firft as long ago as 1847, nas 
had something to do with overcoming his diftruft. 
To avoid misapprehenfion, it is right to ftate, that 
two verses of the firft were introduced into Mrs, 
Stowe's " Uncle Tom's Cabin," and by these acci- 
dental means have enjoyed a world-wide currency. 
More recently this verfion has been honored with 
a place in the " Plymouth Collection of Hymns and 
Tunes," edited by Henry Ward Beecher, and set 
to mufic. It was, so far as the Tranflator knows, 
the firft attempt, with a fingle exception, to repro- 
duce in English the ternary double rhyme of the 
original. 



DE NOVISSIMO JUDICIO. 



IES irae, dies ilia 
Solvet saeclum in favilla, 
Tefte David cum Sibylla. 

Quantus tremor eft futurus, 
Quando Judex eft venturus, 
Cuncla ftri&e discuffurus ! 

Tuba, mirum spargens sonum 
Per sepulchra regionum, 
Coget omnes ante thronum. 

Mors ftupebit et natura, 
Quum resurget creatura 
Judicanti responsura. 




DIES IRiE. 



Liber scriptus proferetur, 
In quo totum continetur, 
De quo mundus judicetur. 

Judex ergo quum sedebit, 
Quidquid latet, apparebit, 
Nil inultum remanebit. 

Quod sum miser tunc dicliurus. 
Quern patronum rogaturus, 
Quum vix juftus fit securus ? 

Rex tremendae majeftatis, 
Qui salvandos salvas gratis, 
Salva me, fons pietatis! 

Recordare, Jesu pie, 
Quod sum causa tuae viae, 
Ne me perdas ilia die ! 

Quaerens me sedifti laffus, 
Redemifti crucem paffus : 
Tantus labor non fit caffus! 



DIES 1RJE. 



3 



Jufte Judex ultionis, 
Donum fac remiffionis 
Ante diem rationis ! 

Ingemisco tanquam reus, 
Culpa rubet vultus meus : 
Supplicanti parce, Deus ! 

Qui Mariam absolvifti, 
Et latronem exaudifti, 
Mihi quoque spem dedifti. 

Praeces meae non sunt dignae, 
Sed tu bonus fac benigne 
Ne perenni cremer igne ! 

Inter oves locum praefta, 
Et ab haedis me sequeftra, 
Statuens in parte dextra! 

Confutatis maledicl:is, 
Flammis acribus addi£Hs, 
Voca me cum benedictis ! 



DIES IRiE. 



Oro supplex et acelinis, 
Cor contritum quasi cinis 
Gere curam mei finis ! 

Lachrymosa dies ilia, 
Qua resurget ex favilla, 
Judicandus homo reus : 
Huic ergo parce, Deus ! 



I. 



AY of wrath, that day of burning, 
Seer and Sibyl speak concerning, 
All the world to afhes turning. 

Oh, what fear mall it engender, 

When the Judge mall come in splendor, 

Strict to mark and juft to render ! 

Trumpet, scattering sounds of wonder, 
Rending sepulchres asunder, 
Shall resiftless summons thunder. 

All aghaft then Death mall fhiver, 
And great Nature's frame fhall quiver, 
When the graves their dead deliver. 




DIES IRJE. 



Volume, from which nothing 's blotted* 

Evil done nor evil plotted, 

Shall be brought and dooms allotted. 

When mail fit the Judge unerring, 
He'll unfold all here occurring, 
Vengeance then no more deferring. 

What mall / say, that time pending ? 
Ask what advocate's befriending, 
When the juft man needs defending ? 

Dreadful King, all power poffeffing, 

Saving freely those confeffing, 

Save thou me, O Fount of Bleffing ! 

Think, O Jesus, for what reason 

Thou didft bear earth's spite and treason. 

Nor me lose in that dread season ! 

Seeking me Thy worn feet hafted, 
On the cross Thy soul death tafted : 
Let such travail not be wafted ! 



DIES IRiE. 



Righteous Judge of retribution ! 
Make me gift of absolution 
Ere that day of execution ! 

Culprit-like, I plead, heart-broken, 
On my cheek fhame's crimson token 
Let the pardoning word be spoken ! 

Thou, who Mary gav'ft remiffion, 
Heard'ft the dying Thief's petition, 
Cheer'ft with hope my loft condition. 

Though my prayers be void of merit, 
What is needful, Thou confer it, 
Left I endless fire inherit ! 

Be there, Lord, my place decided 
With Thy fheep, from goats divided, 
Kindly to Thy right hand guided ! 

When th' accursed away are driven, 

To eternal burnings given, 

Call me with the blessed to heaven! 



DIES IRiE. 



I beseech Thee, proftrate lying, 
Heart as afhes, contrite, fighing, 
Care for me when I am dying ! 

Day of tears and late repentance, 
Man mail rise to hear his sentence 
Him, the child of guilt and error, 
Spare, Lord, in that hour of terror ! 



II. 



AY fhall dawn that has no morrow. 
Day of vengeance, day of sorrow, 
As from Prophecy we borrow. 



It fhall burn, that day of trouble, 
As a furnace heated double, 
And the wicked fhall be frubble. 




O, what trembling, when the rifted 
Skies mail (how the Judge uplifted, 
And all ftrictly mail be fifted ! 

Trump mail sound a blaft appalling, 
On the grave's deep ftillness falling, 
Small and great before Him calling. 

Death with fear mail be o'ertaken, 
Nature to her base be fhaken, 
When the fleeping dead mail waken. 



DIES IRJE. 



Volume mall be brought, whose pages 

Regifler the deeds of ages, 

Whence the world mall have juft wages. 

When that Court mall hold its seffion, 
Every mouth mall make confeffion, 
Left unpunifhed no transgreflion. 

How, alas ! in that dread season, 
Shall I answer for my treason, 
When the righteous fear with reason ? 

Awful King, who nothing craveft, 
Since Thyself full ransom gaveft, 
Save Thou me, who freely saveft! 

Me, for whom, with love so tender, 
Thou didft leave Thy throne of splendor, 
Jesus, do not then surrender ! 

Wearily for me Thou toiledft, 
Diedft for me and Satan spoiledft. : 
Let not triumph whom Thou foiledft ! 



DIES IRiE. 



I 3 



Thou, whose frown will be damnation, 
Grant me earneft of salvation, 
Ere that day of consummation ! 

Culprit-like, I, self-convided, 
Blufhing, proftrate, and afflicted, 
Kneel for mercy unreftricted. 

Thou, who Mary's faith rewardedft, 
Pardon to the Thief accordedft, 
Me, too, trembling hope affbrdedft. 

Poor my prayers, but give ensample 
Of Thy goodness rich and ample, 
Left insulted Juftice trample ! 

With Thy chosen flock unspotted, 
Severed from the herd besotted, 
Be my place that day allotted ! 

When Thy curse fhall blaft and wither, 

Doom to hell and banifh thither, 

Bid me with the blefled, Come hither ! 



DIES irje. 



Care for me as one who feareth, 
One who hafteth when he heareth, 
When my solemn exit neareth! 

When the light of that day flames, 
And man rises from his afhes 
At Thy bar account to render, 
Spare then, Lord, the pale offender ! 



III. 



AY of Vengeance and of Wages, 
Fiery goal of all the ages, 
Burden of prophetic pages ! 

Guilty wretches, vainly fleeing 

From that flaming Eye, whose seeing 

Searches all the depths of being. 

Wakened by that Trump of Wonder, 
Answering Earthquakes, roaring under, 
Heave and split the ground asunder; 

And the buried generations, 
People of all times and nations, 
Live again and take their ftations, 

Each immortal pale offender, 

Round the Great White Throne of Splendor* 

Strict account to God to render; 




i 4 



DIES IRiE. 



Who, unmocked and unmiftaken, 
Shall pronounce the doom unfhaken, 
And long numbering vengeance waken. 

What if weighed and found deficient ? 
Standing at that bar omniscient, 
Who hath righteousness sufficient ? 

Dreadful Majeffy of Heaven J 
Freely thy salvation's given. 
Fount of Mercy, save me even ! 

Me, for whom Thou fhame didft borrow, 
Trod'ft the paths of earthly sorrow, 
Lose not on that dreadful morrow! 

Seeking me Thou weary sankeft, 

All my cup of trembling drankeft, 

Nor from death, to save me, shrankeft. 

Muft I fink yet to perdition? 
God of Vengeance, grant remiffion, 
Ere that Day of Inquifition ! 



DIES IRJE. 



Filled with lhame and confternation, 
Lifting hands of supplication, 
Spare me, God of my Salvation { 

Let such grace be manifefted, 

As on weeping Mary refted, 

As was towards the Thief attefted ! 

Though no worth in me discerning, 
Spurn not, though I merit spurning : 
Rescue me from endless burning ! 

When divifion is effe&ed 

'Mong the race of men colle&ed, 

Leave me not with the rejected ! 

When Thy curse from Thee mall sever, 
Kindling hells, extinguifhed never, 
Join me to Thyself forever ! 

From the afhes of contrition, 
From the depths I make petition : 
Grant my soul a safe dismiffion ! 



6 



DIES IRiE. 



When that day mall snare th' unwary, 
And fhall guilty man unbury, 
Spare me then, Dread Adversary \ 



AY of Prophecy ! it flames, 
Falling spheres together dairies. 
And the world consumes to afhes# 

O, what fear of wrath impending, 
When the Judge is seen descending, 
Inquifition ftrict intending! 

God's awakening Trump mail scatter 
Summons through the world of matter, 
And the Throne of Death mall matter. 

What amazement, when forgotten 
Generations, dead and rotten, 
Suddenly are rebegotten! 

Book and Record universal 
Shall be opened for rehearsal, 
Whence the doom without reversal, 
3 




r8 



DIES IRJE. 



When by that dread Judge inspe&ed, 
Nothing mall pass undetected, 
Unavenged nor uncorrected. 

How fhall I, a wretch unftaole, 

Bide that hour inevitable, 

When the jufl man scarce is able ? 

Dreadful King, from Thee, the Giver, 
Flows salvation like a river : 
Fount of Mercy, me deliver ! 

Thou, who, touched with my condition, 
Cam'st to save me from perdition, 
Be Thou mindful of Thy miflion ! 

Let Thy death for my offences, 
Horror of Thy soul and senses, 
Be not void of consequences ! 

Blot my fins, ere that revifion, 
Day of ultimate decifion, 
When Thy foes are in derilion ! 



DIES IRJE. 



I 9 



From my eyes repentance gufhes, 

O'er my cheeks spread crimson blufhes : 

Spare the worm Thy terror crufhes ! 

Thou, who wert of old rnorl gracious 
Ev'n to finners moft audacious, 
Is Thy mercy now less spacious ? 

Worthless aCl the prayers I offer : 
Grace muft seal what grace doth proffer, 
Else I perifti with the scoffer. 

When Thou makeft separation, 
With Thy sheep aflign my ftation, 
Saints of every age and nation ! 

When the malison eternal 
Banifhes to fires infernal, 
Bid me enter realms supernal ! 

Thou, who doft, with care unfleeping, 
Keep that trufted to Thy keeping, 
Save my eyes from endless weeping ! 



DIES IRJE. 



Day of tears, consuming, cruel, 
With a burning world for fuel ! 
Man mall rise from glowing embers, 
Made complete in all his members : 
Ah! what plea will then be valid, 
When the finner, trembling, pallid, 
Waits to hear his sentence given ? 
Spare him then, O God of Heaven! 



V. 



AY of vengeance, end of scorning, 
World in afhes, world in mourning, 
Whereof Prophets utter warning ! 

O, what trembling, when the falling 
Rocks and mountains hear men calling, 
" Hide me from that face appalling ! " 

Freezing fear the blood will thicken, 
Death and Hell be horror-ftricken, 
When the myftic Trump mall quicken 

All the buried duft of ages, — 
Monarchs, chieftains, ftatesmen, sages, 
Actors on unnumbered ftages, — 




Summoned to the dread recital 
Of that Record ftricT: and vital, 
Basis of a juft requital. 



22 



DIES 1RJE. 



Every mafk of falsehood riven, — 
Guilt, from every covert driven, 
Shall to punimment be given. 

'Mid the horror and confufion 
Of that sorrowful conclufion 
Of each miserable delufion, 

Whither, ah! mall I betake me? 

Thou, O King, whose terrors make me, 

Of Thy grace a trophy make me! 

Jesus ! by Thine incarnation, 
By Thy miffion of salvation, 
Then avert juft condemnation! 

By Thy pity, love unfailing, 
By the cross's bitter nailing, 
Let not all be unavailing ! 

Dread Avenger of transgreffion, 
Cleanse these lips that make confeffion, 
Ere th' awards of that laft seflion. 



DIES 1RJE. 



Spare a culprit, groans faft heaving, 
Self-convicted, blufhing, grieving, 
In Thy power and grace believing. 

Since Thy nature doth not vary, 

Thou, who heard'ft the Thief and Mary, 

My transgreflions blot and bury ! 

Worthless works behind me cafting — 
Grace mull save, not prayer nor failing, 
From the fire that's everlafting. 

On Thy right hand fix my ftation 
With the chosen generation, 
In the fheep-fold of salvation ! 

When Thy curse the wicked chases, 
With the bleft in heavenly places 
Call me to Thy dear embraces! 

Care for me, whom guilt abafhes, 
Proftrate, contrite, heart as afhes, 
When that day of terror flames ! 



DIES IRiE. 



Day of weeping and of wailing, 
Human hearts and fates unveiling ! 
Then, when Time mall be no longer, 
And the ftrong yields to the Stronger, 
Death and Hell their dead surrender, 
And the Sea its own mall tender, 
Multitudinous, unbounded 
Generations rise aftounded, 
Each to answer for his finning, 
He who lived at the beginning, 
He who when the world is hoary,— 
Spare, O, spare, Thou God of Glory! 



VI. 



' wrath and confirmation, 
}f fiery consummation, 
efied in Revelation ! 

O, what horror on all faces, 

When the coming Judge each traces, 

Flaming, dreadful, in all places ! 

Trump mall sound, and every fingle 
Mortal slumberer's ears mall tingle, 
And the dead mall rise and mingle : 

All of every tribe and nation, 
That have lived fince the creation, 
Answering that dread citation. 

Book, where actions are recorded, 

All the ages have afforded, 

Shall be brought and dooms awarded. 

4 




DIES IRiE. 



Judge, who fits at that affizes, 
Shall, deceived by no disguises, 
Try each work that man devises. 

How mall I, a wretch polluted, 

Answer then to fins imputed, 

When the juft man's case is mooted ? 

Awful Monarch of Creation ! 
Saving without compensation, 
Save me, Fountain of Salvation ! 

Lose me not then, Jefus, seeing 
I am Thine by gift of being, 
Doubly Thine by price of freeing ! 

Thou, the Lord of Life and Glory, 
Hung'fl: a victim gained and gory : 
Let not all be nugatory! 

Pardon, Thou whose vengeance smireth, 
But whom mercy moft delighteth, 
Ere that reck'ning day affrighteth ! 



DIES IRiE. 



As a culprit, ftand I groaning, 
Blufhing, my demerit owning : 
Sprinkle me with blood atoning ! 

Thou, who Mary's sins remittedft, 
And the softened Thief acquittedft, 
Likewise hope to me permittedft. 

Weak these prayers Thy throne affailing; 
But let grace, o'er guilt prevailing, 
Save me from eternal wailing ! 

While the goats afar are driven, 
'Mid Thy fheep me place be given, 
Blood-warned favorites of Heaven ! 

While " Depart ! " fhall doom and gather 
Those to flame, address me rather : 
" Come thou bleffed of my Father ! " 

In my final hour, when faileth 

Heart and flefh, and my cheek paleth, 

Grant that succor which availeth ! 



DIES IRiE. 



Day unutterably solemn ! 
Crypt and pyramid and column, 
Ille and continent and ocean, 
Rocking with a fearful motion, 
Shall give up, a countless number 
Starting from their long, long flumber. 
Horror flamping every feature, 
While is judged each finful creature, 
End of pending controversy : 
Spare Thou then, O God of Mercy ! 



VII. 



AY of wrath, that day of days, 
Present to my thought always, 
When the world mall burn and 
blaze ! 

O, what trembling, O, what fear, 
When th' Omniscient Judge draws near, 
Scanning all with eyes severe ! 

When the Trump of God mall sound 
Through the vague and vaft profound 
Of the regions under ground ; 

And th' innumerable dead, 
Answering to that summons dread, 
Shall forsake their dufty bed ; 

And that Book of ancient date 
Shall be opened, whereon wait 
Mighty iflues big with fate ; 




DIES IRJE. 



And each secret thing mall lie 
Thenceforth bare to every eye, 
Nought unpunifhed or pafTed by. 

Ah, me ! what mail I then plead, 
Who for me then intercede, 
When the juft of help have need ? 

Thou, who doft, O Heavenly King, 
Free forgiveness freely bring, 
Let me drink of Mercy's Spring ! 

Thou didft empty and exhauft 
Heaven for me : when such the coft, 
Jesus, let me not be loft! 

Wearily Thou soughteft me, 
Bought'ft me on th* accursed tree : 
Let it not all fruitless be ! 

Righteous Judge, who wilt repay, 
Grant me pardon, ere that day 
Of decifion and dismay ! 



DIES IRJE. 



I, a finful man and base, 
Blufhing, groaning o'er my case, 
Seek and supplicate Thy grace. 

Thou, who heardeft Mary's fighs, 
Thou, who openedft Paradise 
To the Thief, regard my cries ! 

Worthless are my prayers and worse, 
But, good Lord, be not adverse, 
Left I fink beneath the curse ! 

Set me, when at Thy command 

All mankind divided ftand, 

With the fheep at Thy right hand ! 

When th* insufferable doom 
Shall the reprobate consume, 
With Thy chosen give me room ! 

In the solemn hour of death, 
When the earthly vanifheth, 
O, receive my parting breath ! 



DIES IRJE. 



Ah! that day made up of tears, 

When from afhes reappears 

Th' Adam of fix thousand years, — 

Who, by its red glare and gleam, 
Sees, as in an awful dream, 
Juftice lift her trembling beam,— 

Conscious on that hinge of fate 
All things hang and hefitate : 
Spare then, Lord, if not too late! 





VIII. 



THAT dreadful day, my soul ! 
Which the ages mail unroll, 
When the knell of Time mail 
toll ! 

O, the terror and the fhame, 
When the Judge with eyes of flame 
Shall make piercing search of blame ! 

Suddenly the Trumpet's fliock 
Doors of Hades mail unlock, 
And before Him all mall flock. 

Struck with wonder and dismay, 
Death and Nature mail obey 
Summons to give up their prey. 

Loudly each indictment dread 
Shall in every ear be read 
Of the living and the dead. 
5 




34 



DIES IRiE. 



Every idle word and thought, 
Every work in secret wrought, 
Into Judgment mall be brought. 

Scarce the juft man's case is sure, 
Scarce the heavens themselves are pure : 
Ah ! how then mail I endure ? 

Dreadful Potentate and high, 

Who doft freely juftify, 

Fount of Grace, my need supply! 

Jefus, mind the kind intent 
Of Thy weary banifhment, 
And my ruin then prevent! 

Let Thy paffion and Thy pain, 
All Thou sufferedft me to gain, 
Be not barren and in vain ! 

Righteous Arbiter of fate ! 

Life and death upon Thee wait, 

Pardon, ere it be too late ! 



DIES IRJE. 



Spare me, vileft of the race, 
Guilty, infamous and base, 
Blufhing mendicant of grace ! 

Though of finners I be chief, 

Hear me, Thou who heard'ft the Thief, 

Driedft the fount of Mary's grief! 

All my prayers are guilty breath, 
And the beft nought meriteth : 
But in mercy save from death ! 

When, disposed on either hand, 
All mankind before Thee ftand, 
Set me with Thy chosen band ! 

When, O, terrible to tell ! 

Yawns inevitable Hell, 

With the blefled bid me dwell! 

When I reach the awful goal, 
And Death's billows o'er me roll, 
Care for my undying soul! 



DIES IRJE. 



Day of weeping and surprise, 
Opening tombs and opening eyes, 
Rocking earth and burning fkies ! 

Day of universal dread, 

When the quick and quickened dead 

Shall have solemn sentence said ! 

Then, O, then, when in despair, 
Man mall speak or fliriek the prayer, 
" Spare me ! " God of Mercy, spare ! 



IX. 




AY foretold, that day of ire, 
Burden erft of David's lyre, 
When the world mall fink 
fire! 



O, what horror and amaze, 
When at once on mortal gaze 
All the Judge's pomp fhall blaze! 

When the Trumpet's myftic blaft, 
To the world's four corners caft, 
Disentombs the buried Paft ; 



And from all the heaving sod, 
From each foot of trampled clod, 
Starts a multitude to God ; 

And that Volume is unrolled 
Wherein are minutely told 
All men's doings from of old ; 



DIES IRJE. 



While, from what is there contained, 
Shall be judged a world arraigned, 
And eternal fates ordained : 

What defence can I then make, 

To what Patron me betake, 

When the righteous fear and quake ? 

King, who dolt all power poffess, 
Free Thy grace and limitless, 
Save me, Fount of Blefledness ! 

Jefus, Mafter, Thou doft know 
I Thy million caused below, 
All Thy weariness and woe ! 

Let Thy blood, that drenched the hilt 
Of that sword unfheathed for guilt, 
Be not vainly fhed and spilt ! 

O my Judge, forgive, forget ! 
Cancel my tremendous debt, 
Ere the sun of grace mall set ! 



DIES IRJE. 



Filled with fhame I hang my head, 
Blufhes deep my face o'erspread : 
Stay Thy lightnings fierce and red ! 

Thou canft darkeft ftains efface ; 
Haft made monuments of grace 
Of the vileft of the race. 

My poor prayers please not repel ! 
Grace and goodness with Thee dwell 
Snatch me from the flames of Hell ! 

When Thou malt discriminate, 
Sheep from goats malt separate, 
Let me on Thy right hand wait ! 

When Thy sentence, smiting dumb, 
Down to Hell mall banifh some, 
With the blelTed bid me come ! 

To Thy care, O Kind as Juft ! 
Heart all penitential duft, 
I my end commit and truft ! 



DIES IRJE. 



Floods of tears that day mall pour; 
Man fhall wake to fleep no more ; 
Guilty, horribly afraid : 
Spare him, Lord, whom Thou haft made ! 



X. 



O ! it comes, with ftealthy feet, 
Day, the ages mall complete, 
When the world fhall melt with 
heat! 

O, what trembling mail there be, 
When all eyes the Judge mall see, 
Come to fift iniquity ! 

Trump mail syllable command, 
And the dead of sea and land 
All before the Throne mall ftand. 

Death mall fliudder, Nature too, 
When the creature lives anew, 
Called to render answer true. 

Volume, that omitteth nought 
Man e'er said or did or thought, 
Shall for sentence then be brought. 

6 




DIES IRiE. 



When fhall fit the Judge severe, 
All that's dark fhali be made clear, 
Nothing unavenged appear. 

What, alas! mail I then say, 

To what Interceflbr pray, 

When the juft fhrink with dismay? 

Awful King, fince all is free, 
Without merit, without fee, 
Fount of Mercy, save Thou me ! 

Mind, O Jesus, Friend fincere, 
How I caused Thy advent here, 
Nor me lose who coft so dear ! 

Straying, I by Thee was sought, 
On the cross with blood was bought 
Let it not be all for nought ! 

Righteous Judge ! Avenging Lord ! 
Full remifiion me afford, 
Ere that final day's award ! 



DIES IRiE. 



Groan I, like a culprit base, 
Conscious guilt inflames my face : 
Spare the suppliant, God of Grace 1 

Thou, who erft didft Mary clear, 
And the dying Thief didft hear, 
Hope haft given me to cheer. 

Though my prayers create no claim, 
Be propitious, Lord, the same, 
Left I burn in endless flame! 

Place among Thy fheep provide, 
From the goats me sunder wide, 
Standing safe at Thy right fide ! 

While " Depart ! " to foes addrefled 

Banifheth to woes unguefled, 

Call me near Thee with the blefled! 

Contrite pangs my bosom tear, 
Heart as afties : hear my prayer, 
Let my end be not despair! 



DIES IRiE. 



On that day of grief and dread, 
When man, rifing from the dead, 
Shall eternal juftice face, 
Spare the finner, God of Grace . 



XI. 



AY of wrath, that day of dole, 
When a fire mall wrap the whole. 
And the earth be burnt to coal ! 

O, what horror, smiting dumb 
When the Judge of all fhall come, 
Sinful deeds to search and sum! 

Trump's reverberating roar 
Through the sepulchres mail pour, 
Citing all the Throne before. 

Death and Nature ftand aghaft, 
While the dead in numbers vaft 
Rise to answer for the part. 

Volume, writ by God's own pen, 

Chronicling the deeds of men, 

Shall be brought, and dooms be then. 




DIES 1RJE. 



When the Judge mall sit, behold ! 
What is secret He'll unfold, 
No juft punifhment withhold. 

Ah ! what plea fhall I prepare, 
To what Patron make my prayer, 
When the juft well-nigh despair ? 

King, majeftic beyond thought, 
Whose free grace cannot be bought, 
Save me, whose desert is nought! 

O, remember, Jefus, I 

Was the cause and reason why 

Thou didft come on earth to die ! 

Me Thou sought'ft with weary feet, 
And my ransom didft complete : 
Let such pity nought defeat ! 

Judge, inflexible and ftricl:, 
Pardon, ere that day convidt 
And th' unchanging doom inflict ! 



DIES IKJE. 



47 



Like a criminal I sigh, 
Blufhing, penitently cry : 
Pass, Lord, my offences by ! 

Thou, who Mary erft did'ft bless, 
Heard'ft the Thief in his diftress, 
Hope haft given me no less. 

Worthless are my prayers and vain, 
But in love do not disdain, 
Left I reap eternal pain ! 

On Thy right hand grant me place 
'Mid the fheep, a chosen race, — 
Far from goats devoid of grace! 

When the thunder of Thine ire 
Headlong hurls to quenchless fire, 
Let Thy welcome me inspire ! 

I entreat Thee, bending low, 
Heart as afhes, full of woe, 
Succor in my end beftow ! 



DIES IRJE. 



When upon that day of tears 
Man from duft again appears, 
Fate depending on Thy nod ; 
Spare the finner then, O God ! 



XII. 



DAY of wrath ! O day of fate! 
Day foreordained and ultimate, 
When all things here (hall termi- 
nate ! 

What numbers horribly afraid, 

When comes the Judge, in fear arrayed, 

To try the creatures He hath made ! 

The blare of Trumpet, pealing clear, 

Shall through the sepulchres career, 

And wake the dead, and bring them near. 

Aftonifhed Nature then mall quail, 
What time the yawning graves unveil, 
And man comes forth, amazed and pale, 

To answer : The o'erwritten scroll 
Shall charge and certify the whole, 
Whence mail be judged each human soul. 
7 




DIES 1RJE. 



The Judge enthroned fhall bring to light 
Whate'er is hid, in open fight 
Avenge and vindicate the right. 

Ah ! with what plea fhall I then come, 
When, terror-locked, each sense is numb, 
And even righteous lips are dumb ? 

O King immortal and supreme, 

Whose fear is great, whose grace extreme, 

Make me to drink of Mercy's ftream ! 

Remember, Jefus, Thou didft make 
Thyself incarnate for my sake, 
Left Hell initiate claim and take ! 

Thou soughteft me when far aftray, 
Didft on the cross my ransom pay : 
Let not such love be thrown away ! 

Juft Judge, of purity intense, 
Remit my infinite offence, 
Before that day of recompense ! 



DIES IR^. 



Like one convinced of heinous deed, 
I groan, I weep, I blufh, I plead : 
Lord, spare me in that hour of need ! 

Thou, who wert moved by Mary's tears, 
Aosolved the Robber from his fears, 
Haft given me hope in former years. 

My prayers are worthless well I know ; 
But, good, do Thou Thy goodness mow, 
And save me from impending woe ! 

Number and place me 'mong Thy own, 
Beneath the flielter of Thy Throne, 
Until Thy wrath be overblown! 

When that the almighty word mail leap 
From out Thy Throne, Thy foes to sweep, 
My soul in perfect safety keep ! 
» 

In proftrate worfliip, I implore, 
With heart all penitent and sore : 
Then care for me when life is o'er ! 



52 



DIES 1RJE. 



Ah ! on that day of grief and dread, 

And resurrection of the dead, 

Of trial and of juft award, 

In wrath remember mercy, Lord ! 



XIII. 



HAT day, that awful day, the laft, 
Result and sum of all the Paft, 
Great neceflary day of doom, 
When wrecking fires mall all con- 
sume ! 

What dreadful mrieks the air mail rend, 
When all mall see the Judge descend, 
And hear th' Archangel's echoing fhout 
From heavenly spaces ringing out ! 

The Trump of God with quickening breath 
Shall pierce the filent realms of Death, 
And sound the summons in each ear : 
" Arise ! thy Maker calls ! Appear ! " 

From eaft to weft, from south to north, 
The earth mall travail and bring forth ; 




54 



DIES IRJE. 



As desert's sands and ocean's waves 
Shall be the sum of empty graves. 

Th' unchanging Reco/J of the Paft 
Shall then be read from firft to laft ; 
And out of things therein contained, 
Shall all be judged and fates ordained. 

No lying tongue, that truth diftorts, 
Shall witness in that Court of Courts , 
Each secret thing mail be revealed, 
And every righteous sentence sealed. 

Ah I who can ftand when He appears ? 
Confront the guilt of finful years ? 
What hope for me, a wretch depraved, 
When scarce the righteous man is saved ? 

Dread Monarch of the Earth and Heaven! 
For that salvation's great 'tis given ; 
And fince the boon is wholly free, 
O Fount of Pity, save Thou me ! 



DIES IRJE. 



Remember, Jefus, how my case 
Once moved Thy pity and Thy grace, 
And brought Thee down on earth to Hay 
O, lose me not, then, on that day! 

I seek Thee, who didft seek me firft, 
Weary and hungry and athirft ; 
Didft pay my ransom on the tree : 
Let not such travail fruftrate be ! 

Juft Judge of vengeance in the end, 
Now in the accepted time befriend ! 
My fins, O, gracioufly remit, 
Ere Thou judicially malt fit! 

Low at Thy feet I groaning lie ; 
With bluftiing cheek, and weeping eye, 
And ftammering lips, I urge the prayer : 
O spare me, God of Mercy, spare ! 

When Mary Thy forgiveness sought, 
Wept, but articulated nought, 



56 



DIES IRiE. 



Thou didft forgive ; didft hear the brief 
Petition of the dying Thief. 

On grace thus great my hope is built 
That Thou wilt cancel, too, my guilt ; 
That, though my prayers are worthless breath, 
Thou wilt deliver me from death. 

When Thy dividing rod of might 
Appointeth ftations oppofite, 
Among Thy fheep grant me to ftand, 
Far from the goats, at Thy right hand ! 

And when despair mall seize each heart 
That hears the dreadful sound, "Depart!" 
Be mine, the heavenly lot of some, 
To hear that word of welcome, " Come ! * 

I come to Thee with trembling truft, 
And lay my forehead in the duft ; 
In my laft hour do Thou befriend, 
And glorify Thee in my end! 



APPENDIX. — SEQUENCE. 




SJSMlSSk STATEMENT of the order observed 
in the celebration of Mass will beft ex- 
plain the nature and import of this term, 
3 in its application by the Romifh Church 
to a large body of hymns, — Daniel, in the 5th vol- 
ume of his learned and laborious work, tf Thesaurus 
Hymnologicus," citing no less than eight hundred, 
the laft one given being a new Sequence, composed 
in honor of the Virgin in 1855, " Sequentia de Beata 
Maria Virgine fine Labe Concepta, Virgo Virginum 
Praeclara." 

The dispofition of parts in the Mass is as follows, 
viz. : 1. The Introit, which is the part sung or 
chanted when the prieft enters within the rails of the 
altar. 2. The Collect, or Prayer. 3. Reading 
of the Epistle, being, in the Mass for the Dead, 
I Cor. xv. 51-57, or Rev. xiv. 13. 4. The Grad- 
ual, so called from its having been sung or chanted 



58 



SEQUENCE. 



formerly from the fteps (gradus) of the altar, clofing 
with the Alleluia. 5. The Tract, which is 
omitted when the Alleluia is sung ; otherwise it is 
sung in the interval to prepare for the following. 
The primary meaning of the word (from traho^ to 
protract or draw out) is adapted to suggeft either the 
use here indicated, i. e. to fill up time, or else to ex- 
press the flow, mournful movement which character- 
izes the chant. 6. The Sequence, being, in the 
Mass for the Dead, the Dies Ir^e. 7. Reading 
of the Gospel, being, in the Mass for the Dead, 
John v. 25-29. 8. The Offertory, which is a 
ftiort sentence that varies. 9. The Secret, a brief 
prayer recited by the prieft in a very low tone of 
voice. 10. Communion, or the application of the 
Mass. 11. Post-Communion. 

The Sequence, it will be seen, occupies a pofition 
exactly midway, being juft after the Gradual and 
Tract, and immediately before the Gospel. The 
Reading of the Gospel happening to be introduced by 
the words, " Sequentia San£t.i Evangelii secundum 
(The Continuation of the Holy Gospel ac- 
cording to — ,) some have supposed that the term 
Sequentia or Sequence was derived from this source. 
Michael Praetorius was of this opinion. But the 



SEQUENCE. 



59 



moll: approved authorities give the following explana- 
tion of its origin. 

From an early period, it was the cuftom of the 
Latin Church to fing the Gradual with the Alleluia 
between the Epiftle and the Gospel ; the Gradual 
being completed, the Alleluia followed ; and in order 
to give to the officiating prieft or deacon sufficient 
time to prepare and ascend the ambon or pulpit, the 
choir repeated and continued the laft syllable A 
through a series of notes. This neuma, as it was 
called, or mufical prolongation of a letter, was named 
Sequentia, because it was sequent to and governed 
by the melody and rhythm of the Alleluia. At a 
later period, this paffage of notes sung without text, 
conftituting the original form of the Sequence, came 
to have words set thereto, thereby preparing the 
way for other changes ; and forasmuch as the firft 
efTays of this kind were unmetrical in their ftrucl:ure, 
the term Prosa or Prose was applied by way of dis- 
tinction to this species of compofition ; of which 
Notker, surnamed the Stammerer, (Balbulus,) who 
died in 912, canonized in 15 14, is confidered to have 
been the originator. Gradually, rhyme, so much 
and so fondly cultivated in the Middle Ages, found 
'ts way into these also ; and from the twelfth century 



6o 



SEQUENCE. 



onward, Sequences became proper metrical songs, 
differing from other hymns only in this, that the 
ftrophes, inftead of four, were made to consist of 
three or fix lines, according as they were double 
or fingle. To this rule, however, there were some 
exceptions. The name of Prose, although not 
flrictly proper in its application to metrical composi- 
tions, continued to be used, nevertheless, as a genera] 
title for all Sequences ; and so we find the Dies Irae 
bearing the appellation in the Mass-books of " Prosa 
Ecclefiaftica de Mortuis." 

Defigned in the firft inftance, as alleged by Notker, 
merely to affift the memory in retaining the long- 
drawn, caudal melodies of the Alleluia, the defirable- 
ness of having other songs for the Mass than the 
Gloria in Excelfis, Kyrie, Credo, &c, songs eafier 
in ftrudture, which could be joined in, not only by 
the choir, but also by the congregation, — perhaps, 
too, the wifh to introduce greater variety into the 
service, and bring the finging into closer relation 
with the objects of particular Church feftivals, which 
could be done more readily by these Sequences, — 1 
caused them to be multiplied greatly. 

But the Roman ritual finally limited them to four, 
viz. : Victims paschali laudis, S. for Eafter Sunday j 



SEQUENCE. 



6.1 



Vent Sancte Spiritus, S. for Whitsunday and St, 
Peter's Day ; Lauda Sion Salvatorem^ S. for Solem- 
nity of Corpus Chrifti ; and Dies Ir<z^ S. Mass for 
the Dead and All-Souls' Day ; nevertheless, other 
Mass-books of diocefes and monaftic orders con- 
tain more Sequences. The Sequence firft named 
has a different metre from the other three, being one 
of those rare cafes in which the characterise triplet 
form of the ftrophe is departed from. The second 
named, Veni Sancte Spiritus, which Trench speaks 
of as " the lovelieft, though not the grandeft, of 
all the hymns in the whole circle of Latin sacred 
poetry," contains ten ftrophes of three lines each. 
Its author was Robert the Second, son of Hugh 
Capet, who ascended the throne of France in the 
year 997, and died in 1031. Like Henry the Sixth 
of England, of a meek and gentle dispofition, a lov- 
er of peace, he was ill suited to contend with the 
turbulent and reftless spirits who surrounded him, 
whose delight was in war. The next Sequence has 
twelve double ftrophes of fix lines each. It is com- 
monly attributed to the so-called Angelical Doctor, 
St. Thomas Aquinas. The laft, which is the Dies 
iRiE, grand and unapproachable in its excellence, 
comprises seventeen ftrophes of three lines each, and 
one of four lines. 



ORIGIN OF LATIN RHYME. 



HILE it is true that the Latin hymns 
written during the firft centuries of the 
Chriftian era are, speaking generally, 
characterized by the absence of rhyme, 
and that the prevalence of rhyme belongs peculiarly 
and almoft exclusively to the period intervening 
between the pontificate of Gregory the Great and 
that of Leo X., it would be a great error to suppose 
that rhyme was then firft introduced, or that it was 
borrowed, as some have surmised, from the Romance 
or Gothic languages. If we look for its origin, we 
mail find preludings and anticipations of it in every 
one of the Latin poets, not excepting the oldefl:. 
Examples of both middle and final rhyme occur in 
all. In the Introduction to Trench's " Sacred Latin 




ORIGIN OF LATIN RHYME. 



63 



Poetry," where this whole subject is ably discufied, 
we have a collation of many of these. Witness the 
following. An ancient author, quoted by Cicero, 
(Tusc. 1. 1. c. 28,) poffibly Ennius, has this ■ — 

Coelum nitescere, arbores frondescere, 
Vites lastificae pampinis pubescere, 
Rami baccarum ubertate incurvescere. 

Of middle rhyme, we have in Ennius : — 
Non cauponantes bellum, sed belligerantes ; 

In Virgil : — 

Limus ut hie durescit, et hsec ut cera liquescit ; 

In Ovid : — 

Quern mare carpentem, substrictaque crura gerentem ; 

Where also is found this example of leonine pen- 
tameter : — 

Quserebant flavos per nemus omne favos. 

Of final rhyme, we have, in Virgil : — 

Nec non Tarquinium ejectum Porsenna jubebat 
Accipere, ingentique urbem obsidione premebat ; 
Wso : — 

Omnis campis diffugit arator, 
Otnnis et agricola, et tuta latet arce viator ; 



5* 



ORIGIN OF LATIN RHYME. 



In Horace : — 

Non satis est pulcra esse poemata ; dulcia santo, 
Et quocumque volent, animum auditoris agunto ; 

Also. - 

Multa recedentes adimunt. Ne forte seniles 
Mandentur juveni partes, pueroque viriles. 

Lucan abounds in examples. Even the Latin prose- 
writers, it would seem, did not disdain now and then 
to play at rhyme, by putting rhyming words in jux- 
tapofition. Cicero has florem et colorem ; Pliny, ve- 
ram et meram ; Plautus, melle et felle ; and so others. 

Rhyme being thus shown to have been a thing 
known to the language from the earlieft times, it 
may be thought surprifing, that what at a later 
period was so highly prized, and so fondly and so 
laboriously cultivated, should have been, during so 
many centuries, to such an extent, neglected ; having 
been apparently fhunned rather than sought for, par- 
ticularly by those great matters of poetry who illus- 
trated the Auguftan age. The facl: is, that the 
ancient claffic metres, though found occafionally, as 
we have seen, toying with rhyme, never seriously 



ORIGIN OF LATIN RHYME. 



65 



affected it ; and it was not until the fhackles imposed 
by these had been wholly fhaken off, and a fimpler 
and more natural verification, based upon accent 
inftead of quantity, had succeeded in eftablifliing its 
juft claims over the Greek intruder, that the regime 
of rhyme fairly commenced. 



(iwjorian (pant. 

From the " G-raduale Romanum." 













- 1 <- 


4 






^r 1 







1. Di - es i - rae, di - es il - la Sol -vet sae-clum 



2. Quantus tre-mor est fu - tu - rus, Quan-do Ju-dex 

7. Quod sum mi - ser tunc die - tu - rus, Quern pa - tro-narn 

8. Rex tre - men-dae ma • jes - ta - tis, Qui sal - van-dos 

13. Qui Ma - ri ■■ am ab - sol - vis - ti, Et la - tro-nem 

14. Prse-ces me-se non sunt dig-nas, Sed tu bo-nus 

in fa - vil - 'a., Tes - te Da- vid cum Si - byl-la.. 3. Tu - ba mi-rum 
est ven-tu-rus, Cuncta stric-te dis- cus- su-rus. 4. Mors stu-pe-bit 
ro - ga - tu-rus, Cum vix justus sit se - cu -rus ? 9. Re - cor- da - re 
sal-vas gra-tis, Sal-va me, fons pi - e - ta - tis ! 10. Quaerensme se- 
ex - au- dis - ti, Mi - hi quo-que spem de-dis-ti. 15. In - ter o - ve3 
fac be-nig-ne, Ne per-en-ni cre-mer ig-ne. 16. Con-fu - ta - tis 



J » 






M 


m 


i=-=s= 






— F — 






1 







spargens so - num Per se - pul-chra re - gi - o - num, Co- get om-nes 
et na - tu - ra, Cum re - sur-get ere - a - tu - ra, Ju-di-can-ti 



Je - su pi - e. Quod sum cau-sa tu - se vi - ae, Ne me per-das 
dis - ti las - sus, Re - de - mis- ti cru-cem pas-sus : Tan-tuq la - bor 
lo-cum prse-sta, Et ab h e-dis me se-questra, SM» tv s n 
ma- le - die - tis, Flammis a - cri - bus ad -die- tis, * -«r» ■»- &*<m 




I I 

an - te thronum. 5. Li - ber scriptus pro-fe - re - tur, In quo totum 

re-spon-su - ra. 6. Ju-dex er- go cum se- <ie - bit, Quidquid latet 

il - la di - e ! 11. Jus - te Ju - dex ul - ti - o - nis, Donum fac re - 
not sit cassus ! 12. In ge - mis - co tanquam re - us, Cul-pa ru-bet 

par-te dex-tra! 17. - ro sup-plex et ac-cli-nis, Cor contritum 

be - ne - dic-tis ' 




I 

di - ce-tur. 
turn re - ma- - ne- bit. 



» . I I 

con-ti - ne-tur, Un-de mundus ju 
ap - pa - re - bit, Nil in - ul 

- mis -si - o-nisAn-te di - em ra-ti - o - nis. 18. La-chry-mo-sa 
vul-tus me-us : Suppli-can-ti par-ce, De - us ! 
qua- si ci - nis : Ge- re cu-ram me - i fi - nis ! 





DIES IRJE PARODIED. 



ILLIAM HENRY NASSAU, Prince 
of Orange — son of William II., Prince 
of Orange, by the Princefs Mary, eldeft 
daughter of Charles I. — was called to 
the throne of England in 1689, m conjunction with 
his wife, Mary, eldeft daughter of the deposed James 
II., James having fled to France, and with his family 
become penfioners of Louis XIV., who in 1692 made 
a vigorous attempt to effect: his reftoration. A treaty 
formed in 1699, providing for the settlement of the 
succeflion to the throne of the Spanifh empire on 
the extinction of the eldeft branch of the house of 
Auftria, was violated by Louis XIV. in accepting 
the Spanifh throne for his grandson, the Duke of 
Anjou, who thus became Philip V. of Spain. In 
addition to this, on the death of James II. he gave a 




70 



DIES IHJE PARODIED. 



further affront by acknowledging his son James king 
of Great Britain and Ireland. 

From the union of the French and Spanifh crowns 
in the Bourbon family, and the anticipated reftora- 
tion of James II. and his son, the Pretender, to the 
throne of England, a certain Catholic prieft, it would 
seem, thought himself warranted in predicting the 
speedy downfall of Proteftant Holland, the conver- 
fion of England, and the overthrow of Lutheranism 
and Calvinism throughout Europe — not scrupling 
with profane audacity to travefty the celebrated Latin 
Judgment Hymn, the Dies Irae, in the ventilation 
of his malignant vaticinations. The following 
" Nenia Batavorum " or Dutchman's Ditty, is fur- 
nifhed by the great scholar Leibnitz, written, it is 
said, in the year 1700. 

The (kill and dexterity mown by the parodift in 
his manipulation of the original text are undeniable - y 
but whatever may be thought of him as a poet, sub- 
sequent events have made it certain that he was no 
prophet ; while the licentious irreverence amounting 
to blasphemy, which leads him to put the " Grand 
Monarque " in the place of Chrift the Judge, is 



DIES 1RJE PARODIED. 



7 1 



quite mocking to all right feeling and good tafte. 
Still, as one of the Curiofities of Literature, it pos- 
sefTes much intereft. It is for this reason, and be- 
cause it pofferTes a hiftorical value, that we give it 
here. 

Dies ira?, dies ilia, 

Solvet fcedus* in favilla, 

Teste Tago, Scaldi, Scylla. 

That day of wrath, how it mall burn 
And fhall the league to afhes turn, 
From Tagus, Scheldt, and Scylla learn. 

Quantus tremor eft futurus 

Dum Phillippus eft venturus 

Has Paludes aggreflurus ! 

What trembling multitudes afraid, 
While Philip fhall the land invade, 
And through the marines march and wade ! 

Tuba mirum spargens sonum 

Per unita regionum 

Coget omnes ante thronum. 

* The league between England and Holland. 



n 



DIES 1RJE PARODIED. 



The blare of trumpet making known 
Through the united countries blown 
Shall bring them all before the throne. 

Mars ftupebit et Bellona 

Dum rex dicit : Redde bona 

Poft hoc vives sub corona. 

Mars and Bellona dumb {hall ftand 
What time the king fhall give command : 
" Yield to my sceptre, self and land." 

Miles scriptus adducetur, 

Cum quo Gallus unietur 

Unde leo subjugetur. 

His levied hofts he forth fhall call, 
And joined to these fhall be the Gaul 
Therewith the lion to enthral!. 

Hie Rex ergo cum sedebit. 

Vera fides refulgebit, 

Nil Calvino remanebit. 

Then when this King fhall fit and reign, 
Lo ! the true faith mall mine again, 
And nought to Calvin fhall remain. 



DIES IRiE PARODIED. 



Quid sum miser tunc dicturus, 

Quern patronum rogaturus, 

Cum nec Anglus fit securus ? 

What fhall I say forlorn and poor, 
What Patron sue then or procure, 
When not the Englishman 's secure ? 

Rex invi£be pietatis ! 
Depreffifti noftros * satis, 
Si cadendum, cedo fatis. 

King of unconquered piety ! 

Vexed haft thou ours sufficiently \ 

Falling, I yield to deftiny. 

Pofthoc colam Romam, pie, 

EfTe nolo causa viae, 

Ne me perdas ilia die. 

Henceforth at Rome my vows I '11 pay, 
Will not be cause more of the way, 
Left thou deftroy me on that day. 



* Huguenots of France. 



74 



DIES IRiE PARODIED. 



Pro Leone multa paflus, 

Ut hie ftaret* eras laflus 

Tantus labor non fit caflus. 

Thou for the Lion much haft borne, 
That he might ftand haft been much worn, 
Let not such toil of fruit be fhorn ! 

Magne Rector liliorum,f 

Amor, timor populorum, 

Parce terris Batavorum. 

Great Ruler of the lilies, hear ! 
The people's love, the people's fear, 
Spare thou the Dutchmen's lands and gear I 

Ingemisco tanquam reus, 

Culpa rubet vultus meus — 

Cadam, nifi juvat Deus. 

Like one condemned, I make my plaint, 
Remembered faults my visage paint — 
Unlefs God aid, I '11 fall and faint. 

* Formerly when France aided the Dutch, 
t In allulion to fleur-de-lis, or the lilies quartered in the royal 
arms of France. 



DIES IRiE PARODIED. 



Dum Iberim domuifti, 

Lufitanum erexifti, 

Mihi quoque spem dedifti. 

For that while thou haft conquered Spai 
Haft Portugal upraised again, 
I too some hope may entertain. 

Preces meae non sunt dignae, 

Sed, Rex Magne, fac benigne, 

Ne bomborum cremur igne. 

My worthlefs prayers no favor earn, 
But be, Great King, benign, riot ftern, 
Left that by blazing bombs I burn ! 

Inter tuos locum praefta, 

Ut Romana colam fefta, 

Et ut tua canam gefta. 

Among thy own me reinftate, 
That I Rome's feafts may venerate, 
And thy achievements celebrate ! 



7? 



DIES IRJE PARODIED. 



Confutatis calvi brutis,* 

Patre,f nato, reftitutis 

Redde mihi spem salutis. 

When quelled the Bald-head's ftupid hordi 
The father and the son reflored, 
Then hope of safety me afford ! 

Oro supplex et acclinis 

Calvinismus fiat cinis, 

Lachrymarum ut fit finis. 

Do thou, I humbly supplicate, 

All Calvinism extirpate, 

That so our tears may terminate. 

* William, Prince of Orange, who was bald, 
t James II. and his son, the Pretender 



" Sta"bat Mater Dolorosa 
Juxta Crucem Lachrymosa. 

(PAUL DBLAROCHE.) 




tab at wtnttt 



(DOLOROSA) 
HYMN OF THE SORROWS OF MARY 

TRANSLATED BY 

ABRAHAM COLES, M. D., Ph. D. 

THIRD EDITION. 



NEW YORK 
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
1891 



03 



PROEM. 



HE celebrated Paffion Hymn, the Stabat 
Mater, is so conftantly affociated with 
the Dies Irae that to mention the one is 
to suggeft the other. It has been thought, 
therefore, that a Tranflation of this Prosa likewise, 
made as literal as poffible, might be acceptable to 
some readers, and form a not unsuitable appendage 
to the former volume, by supplying a ready means 
of comparison between two productions, about which, 
down to this day even, there has been a difference 
of opinion as to which should be awarded the palm 
of superiority. 

It is hardly neceffary to say that reference is here 
had to their lyrical merits only ; for while the devout 
Proteflant finds nothing in the Judgment Hymn to 
jar with his own religious convictions, he is neces- 
sarily offended in the Stabat Mater by a devotion he 




4 



PROEM. 



believes misdirected and idolatrous, in the adoration 
which it pays to the Virgin. He is aware, however, 
that in the formation of a critical eftimate of the two, 
theological confiderations have no right to enter ; 
and certainly the moft zealous Romanift will be con- 
ftrained to admit that there has been no backward- 
ness evinced on the part of those who are not of his 
faith to do ample juftice to the lyric excellence of 
the latter. Some have gone so far as to place it 
above its great rival, but this is not the general judg- 
ment, nor is it ours. 

Beautiful it undoubtedly is, and powerful in its 
pathos beyond almoft anything that has ever been 
written ; but it is nevertheless true (and the same 
indeed may be said of the Dies Irae likewise) that it 
owes much of its power to make us admire and weep 
to the transcendent nature of its theme. Beyond 
controversy, the moft affecting spectacle ever ex- 
hibited to the gaze of the universe, was that wit- 
nefled on Mount Calvary. That amazing scene — 
Jesus on the cross and his mother ftanding near — 
had been, of course, a familiar object of contempla- 
tion to all Chriftian hearts, centuries before the 



PROEM. 



5 



author wrote. His chief bufiness therefore would 
be not to originate but reproduce. 

Evidently the key-note of the Hymn is ftruck in 
the two firft lines, of which the language is wholly 
borrowed (bating the epithets, which are not in the 
manner of the sacred writers) from the Evangelift 
John, as found in the Latin verfion : Stabat juxta 
crucem mater ejus. This brief but wonderfully sug- 
geftive sentence, furnifhes an outline which the 
poorer! imagination would be capable of filling up 
in a degree. Every mother's heart, for example, 
would suffice to tell what an abyss of tears muft 
have gone to make up that hiatus in the narrative, 
which leaves solely to inference what were the feel- 
ings of her, who, without comprehending the mys- 
tery, flood there gazing upward on the agonized face 
and writhing form of her divine Son, through the 
long hours of mortal anguifh during which he hung 
upon the cross. 

But however spontaneous and natural, — however 
true, beautiful, and even poetic, — and however vivid 
the emotions of sorrow, terror, and pity, arifing out 
of these inftinctive and uninftru&ed perceptions, 



6 



PROEM. 



there is a vagueness as well as vividness, and a re- 
sulting incapacity to express clearly and adequately 
what is so genuinely felt. The ability to do this is 
rare, and rarer ftill the poetic faculty, whereby the 
unwritten melody of the heart is accommodated to 
all lips and sung in all ears. To say that the author 
of the Stabat Mater porTefTed this power and achieved 
this triumph is to beftow upon him and his work 
the highefl praise. 

Rude though he be, and a ftammerer of barbarous 
Latin, he gives undeniable evidence of being a true 
poet. He has clairvoyance and second fight. The 
diftant and the paft are made to him a virtual here 
and now. He is in Italy, but he is also in Judea. 
He lives in the thirteenth century, but is an eye- 
witness of the crucifixion in the beginning of the 
firft. He has immediate vifion. All that is tran- 
spiring on Golgotha is diftin&ly pictured on the retina 
of his mind's eye. And by the light which is in 
him he photographs what he sees for the use of 
others. His ecce ! is no pointless indication, but an 
actual mowing. The wail he utters is a veritable 
echo of that which goes up from the cross. Every- 
thing is true to nature and to life. 



PROEM. 7 

The Hymn confifts of two parts. The fir ft four 
verses give a description of the fituation and charac- 
ter of the a&ors in the drama, as pi&orially powerful 
as scripturally juft. From this fruitful source have 
come all the Mater Dolorosas of the Painters. It 
is aflumed, in accordance with the belief of the 
Fathers, that the prophecy of Simeon : " A sword 
(hall pass through thy own soul also," had then its 
proper fulfilment. In the remaining fix verses, the 
writer henceforth difiatisfied with the role of a spec- 
tator, seeks to identify himself with the tragic scene j 
prays that he may be permitted to bear a part, not 
in the way of sympathy merely, but of suffering also, 
and this too, the same both in kind and degree ; that, 
enduring ftripe for ftripe, wound for wound, there 
might be to him in every ftage of the Redeemer's 
pafiion, groan answering to groan. 

It is now that the Franciscan appears quite as 
much as the Chriftian. Even when, as in the 8th 
verse, he quotes St. Paul (who speaks of " bearing 
about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus"), he 
ts evidently thinking of St. Francis. He would fain 
have repeated the miracle of the "Stigmata" in his 



8 



PROEM. 



own person, — have an actual and vifible reproduc- 
tion of the print of the nails and the spear in his own 
hands and feet and fide. As " plagas " in the laft 
line of the same verse is used not unfrequently in the 
sense, not so much of wounds as the marks and ap- 
pearances left by wounds, it would correspond very 
exactly with the ftigmata named in the legend, and 
molt likely, in the author's use of it, it was intended 
as a synonym. The poffibility of such a literalness, 
however incredible to us, would not be so to him. 

This Hymn is full of the implied merit of suffering, 
——its meritoriousness in itself. And this is probably 
one of the reasons why it became such a favorite 
with the Flagellants, otherwise called Brethren of 
the Cross (Crucifrates) and Cross-Bearers (Cruciferi), 
penitents who, in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and 
fifteenth centuries went about in procellion day and 
night, travelling everywhere, naked to the waist, 
with heads covered with a white cap or hood, whence 
they received likewise the appellation of Dealbatores, 
finging penitential psalms, and whipping themselves 
until the blood flowed. By their means it was that 
the knowledge of this Hymn was firft carried to 
almofr. every country in Europe. 



PROEM. 9 

The authorfhip of the Stabat Mater, like that of 
the Dies Irae, has been the subject of dispute. It 
has been varioufly ascribed — to Pope Innocent III., 
but backed by no evidence whatever ; to one of the 
Gregories, (either the 9th, 10th, or nth, which, is 
not ftated,) on the authority of the old Florentine 
hiftorian Antoninus, who lived in the fifteenth cen- 
tury ; to John XXII., on the faith of the Genoese 
Chancellor and hiftorian, Georgius Stella, who wrote 
a few years earlier than the laft named, dying in 
1420. The text, as supplied by him, the oldeft 
perhaps extant, differs but little from that of the 
MifTale Romanum, except that it contains three more 
verses. Others have referred its paternity, contrary 
to all probability, to St. Bernard. Dismiffing all these 
as conjectures unsupported by proof, it is now gen- 
erally conceded, that evidence both external and in- 
ternal makes it wellnigh certain that the Hymn was 
the work of a Franciscan friar, a junior contemporary 
as well as brother of the author of Dies Irse, named 
Jacobus de Benedicts, commonly called Jacopone, 
that is, the great Jacob. This latter name, it seems, 
*vas originally defigned as a kind of nickname ; the 



to 



PROEM. 



syllabic suffix, meaning in Italian great, having 
been added by scoffing contemporaries by way of de- 
rifion, on account of the ftrangeness of his appearance 
and behavior. Indeed, if we may credit the ftories 
told by Wadding, the Irifh hiftorian of the order, 
himself one of the number, his conduct at times 
so far exceeded the bounds of ordinary fanatical ex- 
travagance, as to be totally irreconcilable with the 
poffeffion of right reason. Wadding expreffly says 
that he was subject to fits of insanity, leading him at 
one time to enter the public market-place naked, 
with a saddle on his back and a bridle in his mouth, 
going on all fours ; and at another, after anointing 
himself with oil, and rolling himself in feathers of 
various colors, to make his appearance suddenly, in 
this unseemly and hideous guise, in the midft of a 
gay aflembly gathered together at the house of his 
brother on the occafion of his daughter's marriage, — 
and this too, in disregard of previous precautionary 
entreaties of friends, who, apprehenfive, it seems, at 
the time they invited him that he might be guilty of 
some crazy manifeftation or other, had begged him 
not to do anything to difturb the wedding feftivities. 
but to behave as an ordinarv citizen. 



PROEM. 



II 



The fhocking circumftances under which he loft 
a pious and beloved wife (the fall of a scaffold upon 
which a large number of females were seated wit- 
neffing some spectacle), and the discovery after death 
that fhe wore a girdle of hair around her naked body 
as a means of mortification to the flefh, affected him, 
it is said, to such a degree, that he immediately re- 
solved to abandon the world, and devote the remainder 
of his days to the severefr. penances. He accordingly 
gave up all his civil honors, and divided his eftate 
among the poor. Uniting himself to one of the 
exifting orders, he now went abroad as a monk, 
clothed in rags, and practifing all manner of ascetic 
severities beyond what was required of him by the 
rules of his order. 

It is charitable to suppose that the (hock of his 
domeftic calamity, while it awakened his religious 
senfibilities, had the effecl: at the same time of un- 
settling his reason, caufing partial insanity. It is in 
no wise inconfiftent with this suppofition, that he was 
able to write poems of such excellence as the Stabat 
Mater, and that other one ascribed to him by Wad- 
ding : " Cur mundus militat sub vana gloria," &c, 



12 



PROEM. 



fince it is well known that mental unsoundness on 
some one point is not necefTarily incompatible with the 
normal exercise of the general powers of the mind. 
This medical fact was not so well underftood in his 
time as now ; and when at the end of ten years he 
defired to be received by the Minorites, and they 
hefitated on account of his reputed insanity, their 
scruples were overcome by reading his work " On 
Contempt of the World," conceiving that it was 
impoffible that an insane man could write so excellent 
a book. This would seem to have been a prose work, 
written probably in his own Italian vernacular, and 
therefore not to be confounded with the Hymn jufl 
referred to, which usually bears likewise the title 
of " De Contemptu Mundi." 

As a Minorite he was not willing to become a 
prieft, only a lay-brother. Very severe againft him- 
self, he was, says Wadding, always full of defire to 
imitate Christ and suffer for Him. In an ecftasy he 
imagined at times that he faw Him with his bodily 
eyes, and believed that Jesus often conversed with 
him, — calling him deareft Jacob. Very frequently 
he v/as seen fighing ; sometimes weeping, sometimes 



PROEM. 



13 



Tinging, sometimes embracing trees, and exclaiming, 
" O sweet Jesus ! O gracious Jesus ! O beloved 
Jesus ! " Once when weeping loudly, on being afked 
the cause, he answered : " Because Love is not 
loved." This fine saying is not unworthy of the 
author of the Stabat Mater. 

For determining the genuineness of love he gives 
these searching tefts. u I cannot know pofitively that 
I love, yet I have some good marks of it. Among 
others, it is a fign of love to God when I afk the 
Lord for something and He does it not, and I love 
Him notwithstanding more than before. If He does 
contrary to that which I seek for in my prayer, and 
I love him twofold more than before, it is a fign of 
right love. Of love to my neighbor I have this fign : 
namely, that when he injures me I love him not less 
than before. Did I love him less, it would prove 
that I had loved not him previoully but myself." In 
this acute appreciation of the figns and symptoms of 
true love, he gives evidence certainly of no want of 
fkill in spiritual diagnosis ; and were he equally sound 
and discriminating in all parts of Chriflian doctrine 
and experience as in this, it might have been quite 



PROEM. 



safe to truft him with the cure of souls. It may be 
that his tefts are too severe and superhuman, and so 
far erroneous. 

On the subjugation of the senses he allegorizes 
in this wise : u A very beautiful virgin had five broth- 
ers, and all were very poor. And the virgin had a 
precious jewel of great worth. One brother was a 
guitar-player, the second a painter, the third a cook, 
the fourth a spice dealer, the fifth a pimp. Each 
was willing to use blandishments to get the ftone. 
The firft was willing to play, and so on. But (lie 
said: What mail I do when the mufic has ceased? 
In fhort, me remained firm, and gave the jewel to 
none. At length a great king came, who was willing 
to raise her to be his bride, and give her eternal life 
if fhe would present him with the ftone. Where- 
upon fhe says : How can I, O my sovereign, to such 
grace refuse the ftone ; and so fhe gave it him." It 
is plain that by the brothers are meant the Five 
Senses ; by the virgin, the Soul ; and by the precious 
jewel, the Will. 

With his severe principles and severer ascetic life, 
Jacopone could not fail to earneftly denounce the 



PROEM. 



*5 



corruptions of his time in general, and especially the 
licentious manners, wickedness, and debaucheries 
of the priefthood, and the deeply sunken condition 
of the Church. Boniface III., who, prior to his 
elevation to the papal chair, had lived in friendly re- 
lations with Jacopone, having been deeply offended 
by some fharp censures directed againft him, threw 
him into prison, — at the same time suspended over 
him the excommunication. Boniface one day pair- 
ing the cell where Jacopone was, afked scornful- 
ly, "When will you come out?" He answered, 
44 When you come in." Boniface's own imprison- 
ment and unhappy end in 1303 set him at liberty. 

It is related likewise how he baffled Satanic craft 
by superior craftiness of his own ; but the details of 
these temptations are so childifh and ridiculous that 
it would not be profitable to quote. Doubtless it is 
more fitting to weep than to laugh over the frenzies 
and follies of such a man, — 

" To see that noble and moft sovereign reason 
Like sweet bells jangled out of tune and harfh." 

His whole hiftory gives a melancholy but inftruc- 
tive infight into the prevalent fanaticism and dark 



i6 



PROEM. 



ness of the period. His death took place at an 
advanced age in 1306. " He died," says Wadding, 
"like the swan, finging, — having composed several 
Hymns juft before his death.'' 

The number of Tranflations made of the Stabat 
Mater is scarcely exceeded by that of the Dies Ira?. 
Lisco, in his work devoted to this Prosa, gives or 
makes mention of eighty-three in all, complete and 
incomplete. With the exception of four done in 
Dutch, these are all German. A fimilar collection 
of Englifh verfions, although comparatively few in 
number, would not be without intereft. In attempting 
to add another to those already exifting, the present 
Tranflator has been moved by a defire to produce 
one more literal, if poflible, than any he has seen. 
He is not, he confelTes, friendly to free tranflations. 
Free, he has often observed, is another name for 
false. A counterfeit is put in the place of the 
genuine ; so that inftead of a Stabat we get only 
some worthless subftitute. He honors that pains- 
taking religious scrupulofity which respects the sa- 
credness of words as well as thoughts ; and fhuns 
all sacrilegious license and profane handling, — carry- 



PROEM. 



ing this reverence for the venerated text so far as 
to be unwilling, if it can poffibly be helped, to vary 
one jot or tittle, either in the way of substitution or 
alteration. 

He has no patience with that preposterous conceit, 
sufficiently common, which imagines itself competent 
to improve on great originals — whether for that mat- 
ter these be in a foreign tongue or the vernacular, 
and so applies to all tamperings with Englifh hymns 
as well. It is much, he confiders, as if some absurd 
novice of the brufh mould undertake with a pre- 
sumptuous hand to retouch a Raphael ; or an irrev- 
erent ftone-cutter, by the clumsy use of his chisel, to 
improve a Venus de Medicis, or an Apollo Belvedere ; 
or some ignorant devotee to make some fine ftatue 
of the Virgin finer by puerile adornments of dress, 
trinkets, and glass beads. If the use of means 
adapted to degrade a mafterpiece to the level of an 
image be accounted a fin and an outrage, it is diffi- 
cult to see why the impertinences of the cheap em- 
bellifhments of every would-be tranflator of famous 
originals, who aspires to be fine rather than faithful, 
mould not be regarded as equally criminal. It may 



i8 



PROEM. 



be, as Dryden says, " almoji impoffible to tranflate 
verbally and well ; " but as the portrait of a friend is 
worthless, however beautiful, unless it be a likeness, 
so we hold a verfion muft fail of its purpose and be 
wanting in value, juft so far as it is lacking in the 
efTential point of being a faithful representation, both 
as to form and spirit, of that to which it relates. 
What is here said, is meant, of course, to apply only 
to what is deliberately put forth as a veritable trans- 
lation ; and not to a production which avowedly uses 
the text merely as a theme, profeffing and claiming 
to do no more. In this case one may deviate as he 
pleases. It is exclufively his own bufiness. 

With these views of the duties of a tranflator, the 
writer has aimed, however much he may have fallen 
fhort, to make his rendering a word for word reflec- 
tion of the original, so far at leafl: as the rigorous 
requirements of rhyme and rhythm would allow. 
For the sake, too, of a closer rhythmic conformity, 
he has sought even to preserve the mufical quad- 
ruplications of the female rhymes found in the second 
and fixth verses. The text adopted is that of the 
Roman Miffal, except in one or two inftances where 
another reading has been preferred. 



PROEM. 



*9 



To make the resemblance between the two Hymns 
ftill more complete, the Stabat Mater, like the Dies 
Irae, has been mo ft fortunate in its mufical alliances ; 
having been made the theme of some of the moft 
celebrated compofitions of the moft eminent com- 
posers. It was set to mufic in the fixteenth century 
by the famous papal chapel mafter, Paleftrina ; and 
his compofition is ftill annually performed in the 
Siftine Chapel during Holy Week. It is sung like- 
wise in connection with the feftival of the Seven 
Sorrows of the Virgin, The compofition of Pergolefi, 
the laft and molt celebrated of his works, made juft 
before his death and left unfinifhed, has never, down 
to the present day, been surpafled, if equalled, in 
the eftimation of critics. It is set for two voices, 
with accompaniments. 

Tieck, in his Phantasus, Vol. 2d, p. 438, (edition 
of 18 12,) thus speaks of the compofition of Pergolefi 
and the Hymn itself : 4C The loveliness of sorrow in 
the depth of pain, the smiling in tears, the childlike- 
ness, which touches on the higheft heaven, had to 
me never before risen so bright in the soul. I had 
to Turn away to conceal my tears, especially at the 



20 



PROEM. 



place : c Videt suum dulcem natum.' How fignificant, 
that the Amen, after all is concluded, ftill sounds 
and piays in itself, and in tender emotion can find 
no end, as if it were afraid to dry up the tears, and 
would ftill fill itself with sobbings. The poetry itself 
is touching and profoundly penetrating ; surely the 
poet sang those rhymes : c Quae moerebat, et dolebat 
cum videbat,' with a moved mind." It is a tradition, 
that the great impreffion which the Stabat Mater of 
the young artift (Pergolefi) made on its firft perform- 
ance, inflamed another mufician with such furious 
envy, that he ftruck down the young man as he was 
coming out of the church. This tradition has long 
ago been disproved, but as Pergolefi died early, it 
may, as one remarks, be permitted to the poet to 
refer to this ftory, and allow him to fall as a victim 
of his art and inspiration. He was born 1704— n 
at Jefi, and died 1737 at Torre del Greco, at the 
foot of Mount Vesuvius, where he had retired on 
account of his weakened health. The recent com- 
position of Roffini is popular and pleafing, but more 
operatic than ecclefiaftical, and so is better suited 
to the concert-room than the church. 



* 



PROEM. 



21 



The names of other diftinguished composers might 
be cited, such as Aftorga, Haydn, Bellini, and Neu- 
komm. Aftorga's principal work was his Stabat 
Mater, the MS. of which is ftill preserved at Oxford, 
he having lived a year or two in England. He was 
a native of Sicily, and died in 1755. Haydn's was 
published in the year 1781. 

We give below a condensed view of the various 
readings taken from Lisco ; and as the Hymn is 
usually divided into three-line Strophes, making in 
all twenty, the references will be to these : — 



Strophe 1, 


line 


3* 


Dum — Quji. 




ti 


2. 


Contriftatam — Contriftantem. 


4» 




2. 


Et tremebat — Pia mater — Dum videbat 








et tremebat. 


5> 


ti 


2. 


Chrifti matrem (i — Matrem Chrifti cum. 


5, 




3- 


In tanto — tanto in. 


6, 


it 


1. 


Quis non poflit — Quis non poteft — Quis 








poffit non. 


8, 


it 


1. 


Videns — Vidit. 


8, 


ti 


2. 


Morientem — Moriendo. 


8, 


ti 


3- 


Dum emifit — amifit. 


9» 


ti 


1. 


Pia mater — Eja mater. 


10, 


ti 


3- 


Ut fibi — Et fibi ; ut tibi ; ut ipfi ; fibi ut. 




ti 


3- 


Valide — vivide. 


12, 


ti 


2. 


Jam dignati — Tarn dignati. 



22 



PROEM. 



Strophe 



12, 


line 


3- 


Poenas pro me — Pcenas mecum. 






i. 


Fac me vere tecum — Fac me tecum pie. 


i 4 , 




2. 


Te libenter — Et me tibi — Tibi me con- 








sociare. 


H» 


t< 


3- 


In planctu — Cum planctu. 




a 


2. 


Mihi jam — Mihi tarn. 


16, 


44 


2. 


Suse sortem — Fac consortem. 


16, 


c< 


3- 


Plagas recolere — Plagis te colere. 


i7, 


cc 


2. 


Cruce hac — Cruce fac me hac beari — 








Cruce fac. 


17, 


(< 


3- 


Ob amorem — Et cruore. 


18, 


44 


I. 


Inflammatus et accensus — Flammis urar 








ne (ne urar) succensus. 


20, 


44 


3- 


Gloria — Gratia. 



The Stabat Mater of Haydn has this for the 
eighteenth Strophe : — 

Flammis orci ne succendar 
Per te, virgo, fac, defendar, 
In die judicii. 

The Carmelite Miffal gives for the nineteenth 
Strophe the following : — 

Chrifte, cum fit hinc exire 
Da per matrem me venire 
Ad palmam victorise. 

The change made in some copies of the seven- 



PROEM. 23 

teenth Strophe, of the original " Cruce hac inebriari," 
into " Cruce fac me hac beari," is fignificant of some 
exception having been taken to the great ftrength, 
not to say the audacity, of the author's metaphor, — 
the dr.»nlr*»nness of love. 



SEQUENTIA DE SEPTEM DOLORIBUV 1 
BEATi^ VIRGINIS. 



I. 

TABAT Mater dolorosa 
Juxta crucem lachrymosa 
Qua pendebat Filius ; 
Cujus animam gementem, 
Contriftaatem et dolentem, 
Pertranfivit gladius. 

II. 

O quam triftis et aifli&a 
Fuit ilia benedicla 

Mater Unigeniti ! 
Quae moerebat et dolebat 
Et tremebat, cum videbat 

Nati poenas Inclytr. 




HYMN OF THE SORROWS OF MARY. 



I. 

TOOD th' afflicted Mother weeping, 
Near the crofs her ftation keeping, 

Whereon hung her Son and Lord; 
Through whose spirit sympathizing, 
Sorrowing and agonizing, 

Also pafled the cruel sword. 

II. 

O how mournful and diftreffed 
Was that favored and moft blefled 

Mother of the Only Son ! 
Trembling, grieving, bosom heaving, 
While perceiving, scarce believing, 

Pains of that Illuftrious One. 




STAjfe T MATER. 



nr. 

Quis eft homo, qui non fleret, 
Matrem Chrifti fi videret 

In tanto supplicio ? 
Quis non polTet contriftari 
Piam matrem contemplari 

Dolentem cum Filio ? 

IV. 

Pro peccatis suae gentis 
Vidit Jesum in tormentis 

Et flagellis subditum ; 
Vidit suum dulcem natum 
Morientem, desolatum, 

Dum emifit spiritum. 

V. 

Pia Mater, fons anion's ! 
Me sentire vim doloris 

Fac, ut tecum lugeam. 
Fac, ut ardeat cor meum 
In amando Chriftum Deum 

Ut Sibi complaceam. 



STABAT MATER. 



2 



III. 

Who the man, who, called a brother, 
Would not weep, saw he ChrifVs mother 

In such deep diftrefs and wild? 
Who could not sad tribute render 
Witnefling that mother tender 

Agonizing with her Child ? 

IV. 

For His people's fins atoning 
Him me saw in torments groaning, 

Given to the scourger's rod ; 
Saw her darling Offspring, dying 
Desolate, forsaken, crying, 

Yield His spirit up to God. 

V. 

Make me feel thy sorrow's power, 
That with thee I tears may mower, 

Tender Mother, fount of love ! 
Make my heart with love unceafing 
Burn towards Chrift the Lord, that pleafmg 

I may be to Him above. 



STABAT MATER. 



VI. 

Sancta Mater, iftud agas, 
Crucifixi fige plagas 

Cordi meo valide. 
Tui nati vulnerati, 
Tam dignati pro me pati 

Poenas mecum divide. 

VII. 

Fac me tecum vere flere, 
Crucifixo condolere, 

Donee ego vixero. 
Juxta crucem tecum ftare, 
Te libenter sociare, 

In planctu defidero. 

VIII. 

Virgo virginum praeclara, 
Mihi tam non fis amara, 

Fac me tecum plangere ; 
Fac ut portem Chrifti mortem, 
Paffionis fac consortem, 

Et plagas recolere. 



STABAT MATER. 



VI. 

Holy Mother, this be granted, 

That the Slain One's wounds be planted 

Firmly in my heart to bide. 
Of Him wounded, all aftounded, — 
Depths unbounded for me sounded, — 

All the pangs with me divide. 

VII. 

Make me weep with thee in union ; 
With the Crucified, communion 

In His grief and suffering give : 
Near the crofs with tears unfailing 
I would join thee in thy wailing 

Here as long as I fhall live. 

VIII. 

Maid of maidens, all excelling, 
Be not bitter, me repelling, 

Make thou me a mourner too ; 
Make me bear about Chrift's dying, 
Share His paffion, fhame defying, 

All His wounds in me renew : 



STABAT MATER. 
IX. 

Fac me plagis vulnerari, 
Cruce hac inebriari 

Ob amorem Filii. 
Inflammatus et accensus, 
Per te, Virgo, fim defensus 

In die Judicii. 

X. 

Fac me cruce cuftodiri, 
Morte Chrifti prasmuniri, 

Confoveri gratia. 
Quando corpus morietur, 
Fac ut animse donetur 

Paradifi gloria. 



STABAT MATER. 



IX. 

Wound for wound be there created ; 
With the Crofs intoxicated 

For thy Son's dear sake, I pray — 
May I, fired with pure affection, 
Virgin, have through thee protection 

In the solemn Judgment Day. 

X. 

Let me by the Crofs be warded, 
By the death of Chrift be guarded, 

Nourifhed by divine supplies. 
When the body death hath riven, 
Grant that to the soul be given 

Glories bright of Paradise. 



REMARKS. 



O admiration of the lyric excellence of 
the Stabat Mater fhould be allowed to 
blind the reader to those objectionable 
features which muft always suffice, as 
they have hitherto done, to exclude it from every 
hymnarium of Proteftant Chriftendom. For not 
only is Mary made the object of religious worfhip, 
but the incommunicable attributes of the Deity are 
freely ascribed to her. Her agency is invoked as if 
fhe were the third person of the Trinity, or had 
powers coordinate and equal. 

Plainly it is the province of the Holy Ghoft, and 
not of any creature, to " work in us to will and to 
do ; " to effecl: spiritual changes ; to " take of the 
things of Chrifl and mow them unto us," — and yet 
these are the very things which fhe herself is afked 
to accomplifh for the suppliant. " Fac," alone, afide 




REMARKS. 



33 



from potential equivalents, is used at leaft nine times, 
■ — a form of exprefiion manifeftly inappropriate un- 
lefs addrefled to one capable of a£ts causal and orig- 
inal and therefore divine. Not content, it seems, 
with making her a fountain of supernatural influence, 
a succedaneum of the Holy Ghoft, her efficiency 
is extended to the performance likewise of the work 
alligned to the Son, — 

Per te, Virgo, fun defensus 
In die Judicii, — 

an expreffion of reliance on her rather than on Him 
to ward ofPin that day the demands of divine juftice. 
Mariolatry here culminates. It could not well be 
carried farther. 

Confidering that the pofition here given to the 
mother of Chrifr. receives not a particle of counte- 
nance anywhere in the New Teftament, one is led 
to wonder how those who accepted its teachings 
could ever have fallen into so awful an error. If 
prayer of any kind addrefTed to her were laudable or 
lawful, how can it be explained that all the sacred 
writers are so intensely reticent upon the point that 
it is not poflible to find written so much as a fingle 
3 



34 



REMARKS. 



syllable to authorize it, or a solitary example to sanc- 
tion it ? It is remarkable that Chrift, while here on 
earth, did not hefitate to rebuke His mother on a 
certain occafion when fhe manifefted a dispofition to 
intrude her maternal human relation into the sphere 
of His divinity, saying : " Woman, what have I to do 
with thee?" At another time, upon being told that 
His mother and His brethren flood waiting without, 
He said, " Who is my mother ? and who are my 
brethren ? " and ftretching forth His hand toward 
His disciples, He said, u Behold, my mother and my 
brethren ? For whosoever fhall do the will of my 
Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother 
and fifter and mother." 

Everybody rauft feel that there is a sublime propri- 
ety in this declarative poftponement, once for all, of 
flefhly relationships to the spiritual ; and that it would 
be infinitely unbecoming in Him, who is the Creator 
of all and the Judge of all, to be a respecter of per- 
sons, swayed as men are swayed by the fond par- 
tialities of blood and kindred. Upon this principle 
it is easy to account for the flight mention made of 
Chrift's mother in the Evangelifts, and the entire 



REMARKS. 35 

absence of any allufton to her in the reft of the New 
Teftament. Even the Apoftle John, to whose lov- 
ing care (lie was committed, and who took her to 
his own house, neither in his Epiftles nor in the 
Apocalypse names her so much as once. Paul, the 
moft voluminous of the New Teftament writers, is 
wholly filent in regard to her. 

When the people of Lyftra were making ready to 
pay divine honors to Barnabas and Paul, they, hear- 
ing of it, u rent their clothes, and ran among the 
people, crying out and saying, Sirs, why do ye these 
things ? " If these revolted at the idea of being 
made the objects of religious worfhip, can we sup- 
pose that supreme form of it lefs {hocking to the 
soul of Mary, which is necelTarily implied in ad- 
drefling her as the omniscient and omnipresent 
hearer and answerer of prayer ? Such honor is 
difhonor. It is an offering of robbery. It robs 
God. 



STABAT MATES. 

(SUNG ON EVERY FRIDAY DURING LENT.) 
^N"o. 1 . -4* sung in the Churches at Rome. 



Gregorian Chant, 
From the " Catholic PsaliAisV 



1. Sta-bat ma-ter do - lo - ro - sa, Jux - ta cru, : cem 

2. Cu-jus a - ni - mam ge - men-tem, Con - tris - tan -. tern 



la - cry - mo - 



et 



len-tem, 



Qua pen de - bat fi - li - us. 
Per - tran - si - vit gla - di - uu. 



3. quam tristis et afflicta 
Fuit ilia beuedicta 

Mater Unigeniti ! 

4. Quae moerebat et dolebat 
Et tremebat cum videbat 

JSTati posnas inclyti. 

5. Quis est homo, qui non fleret, 
Matrem Chris ti si videret 

In tanto supplicio ? 

6. Quis non posset contristari, 
Piam matrem contemplari 

Dolentem cum filio. 

7. Pro peccatis suae geutis 
Vidit Jesum in tormentis 

Et flagellis subditum. 

8. Vidit suum dulcem natum 
Morieutem, desolatum 

Dum emisit spiritum. 

9. Pia mater, fons amoris ! 
Me sentire vim doloris 

Fac, ut tecum lugeam. 

10. Fac, ut ardeat cor meum 
In amando Christum Deum, 

Ut Sibi complaceam. 

11. Sancta mater, istud agas 
Crucifixi fige plazas 

Cordi meo valide. 



12. Tui nati vulnerati 

Tarn dignati pro me pati 
Pcenas mecum divide. 

13. Fac me tecum pie Here 
Crucifixo condolere 

Donee ego vixero. 

14. Juxta crucem tecum starve 
Et me tibi sociare 

In planctu desidero. 

15. Virgo virginum praeclara 
Mihi tarn non sis amara, 

Fac me tecum plangere. 

16. Fac ut portem Chris ti mortem 
Passionis fac consortem 

Et plagas recolere. 

17. Fac me plagis vulnerari 
Cruce hac iuebriari 

Ob amorem filii. 

18. Infiammatus et accensus 
Per te, virgo, sim defensus 

In die judicii. 

19. Fac me cruce custodiri 
Morte Christi prsemuniri 

Confoveri gratia. 

20. Quando corpus morietur 
Fac ut animse donetur 

Paradisi gloria. 



STABAT MATES -Chant for Tour Voices. 

!N"o. 2. Novello. From" Evening Service* 



-6h F> tf» v 

Sta-bat ma-ter do - lo - ro - sa 



1 

— 




— © — 


— Jl 1 














Jux-ta cru-eem 



p^mililiiilip 



=3= 
-sj 

la - cry - mo - sa, Qua pen 

I ! 



No. 3 

1 



de - bat fi 

4- 



-a — 



fell 



^ 

"•Bohr's Collection. 



32tZi 



it- 



rjf ijr fjr 

Stabat ina-ter do-lo - ro - sa Jux - ta eru-eem 



9% J 



-(g— —f-( g r~T -F — ^-J-* 2 - 



at fi - li - us. 



» » » » ~ " P +- & 

I " 1 1 u 

la - cry - mo - sa, Qua pen - de - bat fi - li - us. 

., i i i 1 i 




MADONNA DI SAN SISTO. 




(SPECIOSA; 
HYMN OF THE JOYS OF MARY 

TRAN^ATED BY 

ABRAHAM COLES, M. D., Ph. D. 

SECOND EDITION. 

J 

NEW YORK 
D APPLETON AND COMPANY 
1891 




STABAT MATER 



(SPECIOSA). 

R. PHILIP SCHAFF — whose volumi- 
nous contributions to the literature and 
hiftory of the Christian Church reflecl: 
the higheft honor upon American schol- 
arfhip — in a recent number of "Hours at Home" 
(May, 1867), has, thanks to an eye that nothing 
escapes, been at the trouble of reproducing, with 
learned and inftru&ive comments for the benefit of 
readers on this fide of the Atlantic, a newly discov- 
ered Stabat Mater, being a Nativity Hymn, writ- 
ten it is supposed by the same hand as the Paflion 
Hymn, so that hereafter, as he remarks, there will 
be two Stabats — the Stabat Mater Dolorosa, and the 
Stabat Mater Speciosa ; the one setting forth the 
Joys, the other the Sorrows, of the Virgin Mother 
at the Manger and the Crofs. 




4 



STABAT MATER (sPECIOSA). 



The revival of this long-loft Hymn in our time, 
after five centuries of forgetfulnefs, is due to A. F. 
Ozanam, who, in a work on the Franciscan Poets 
( u Les Poetes Franciscains en Italie au XIII e siecle, 
avec un Choix de petites Fleurs de Saint Francois, 
trad, de Tltalien," Paris, 1852), has given it once 
more to the world. Hitherto there have been but 
two tranflations of the Hymn — one into German, 
by Cardinal Diepenbrock ; the other, into Englifh, 
by Neale, made juft before his death. This Dr. 
Schaff copies in the article referred to. Both Oza- 
nam and Neale affume an identity of authorfhip for 
the two : and Neale infers, from the want of finim 
and the imperfect rhymes, that the Mater Speciosa 
was composed firft j but we entirely agree with Dr. 
Schaff in thinking that internal evidence, alone, 
makes it certain that this is not the case. Ingeni- 
ous and exa£r. as is the parallel, it is easy enough to 
see which was firft and which was second. If 
twins, the Mater Dolorosa muft have been the elder. 
It is impoffible that " Pertranfivit jubilus " was writ- 
ten before "Pertranfivit gladius." 

But we doubt, we confefs, a fimultaneous birth, 



STABAT MATER. (SPECIOSA). 



5 



or even a common parentage. In the absence of 
hiftorical proof, we mould think it far more proba- 
ble, that the Mater Speciosa was the work of some 
admiring imitator, after the other had become famous ; 
who, not fully satisfied with his performance, was 
waiting to give it its final touches when he mould have 
decided between this and that; which explains the 
supernumerary lines appended to the eighth frrophe.* 
AfTuming the priority of the Mater Dolorosa^ about 
which there cannot be a particle of doubt, it is diffi- 
cult to conceive that the other could have been the 
work of the same pen. It is only the celebrity of 
an original which invites parody. A man would 
hardly be a model to himself. True merit, if not 
unconscious, is usually modeft, and it is not likely 
that our author, at the time he wrote, placed any 
special value upon his production ; much lefs fore- 
saw its after succefs. Why then mould he, in pre- 
paring a hymn on the Nativity, prepofteroufly seek 
to tie himself down to the use of the self-same 

* " Hunc ardorem fac communem 
Ne me facias immunem 
Ab hoc defiderio." 



6 



STABAT MATER (sPECIOSA). 



words and order of words which he had happened 
to employ in compofing a hymn on the Crucifixion ? 
After this had grown into public favor, it is easy to 
underftand, how some one else, other than the au- 
thor, mould be prompted to attempt so curious and 
difficult a tafk, because the verbal semblance would 
aid, by afTociation, in exciting fimilar emotions of 
reverent intereft and sympathifing tendernefs. It is 
right to ftate, however, that opposed to this conclu- 
fion is the hiftorical teftimony of a second edition of 
the Italian Poems of Jacopone (Laude di Frate Jac- 
opone da Todi), publifhed at Brescia, in 1495, which 
contains, in an appendix, several Latin poems as- 
cribed to him ; among which, according to Brunet, 
are found both this Mater Speciosa, and the Mater 
Dolorosa, as well as the De Contemptu Mundi. There 
may be other evidence in support of this opinion, of 
which we are ignorant ; but as the case ftands, we 
are compelled to adhere to the belief of a twofold 
authorfhip \ and accept the above only as supplying 
proof of the earlinefs of its origin. 

That the new found Stabat is not wanting in those 
qualities which have attracted to its illuftrious pro- 



STABAT MATER (SPECIOSA). 



7 



totype the admiring regards of men through so 
many generations, teftifies to the fkill of the writer. 
The ftru£r.ural correspondence between the two is 
kept up throughout. Grief and gladnefs are seen 
to go hand in hand, finging as they go, to the same 
sweet time and measure. Were it only poetry and 
not prayer — mere apoftrophe and not religious hom- 
age — we would be content ; but, alas ! there clings 
to one and the other the fatal taint of idolatry ; and 
we are not permitted to wink out of fight so un- 
speakable an offense againft the purity of the unfhared 
worfhip of the infinite Jehovah. 

Happily we have other hymns on the Nativity, 
againft which this objection does not lie. Milton's, 
for example, the grandeft of them all, is wholly to 
" the Infant God," not the human mother. It 
divides not its worfhip. It fings and celebrates but 
the One, and " prevents " the dawn and " the ftar- 
led wizards," that it may be firft with its exclufive 
offering " to lay it lowly at His bleffed feet." Two 
fimple and sweet lines at the close comprise all that 
is said of the virgin mother : 

" But see, the virgin bleft 
Hath laid her Babe to reft." 



8 



STABAT MATER (SPECIOSA). 



They ftand prefixed to the Cradle Hymn of Mrs. 
Browning, and may have suggefted that divine lul- 
laby, " The Virgin Mother to the Child Jesus." 
It is too long to give entire, but a ricochet extract 
may suffice to exhibit its general scope, and furnifti 
material for an interefting and inftru&ive compari- 
son with its mediaeval rival : 

" Sleep, deep, my Holy One ! 
My flefh, my Lord ! — what name ? I do not know 
A name that seemeth not too high or low, 
Too far from me or heaven. 
My Jesus, that is beft ! that word being given 

By the majeftic angel whose command 
Was softly as a man's beseeching aid, 

When I and all the earth appeared to ftand 
In the great overflow 
Of light celeftial from his wings and head — 

Sleep, fleep, my Saving One ! 
And art Thou come for saving, baby-browed 

And speechlefs Being — art Thou come for saving ? 

Art come for saving, O my weary One ? 
Perchance this fleep, that fliutteth out the dreary 
Earth-sounds and motions, opens on Thy soul 
High dreams on fire with God. 



STABAT MATER (sPECIOSA). 



Suffer this mother's kils, 
Beft thing that earthly is. 



Thus noiselefs, thus. Sleep, fleep my dreaming One 
I 'm 'ware of you, heavenly Presences ! 



Unsunned i' the sunfhine ! I am 'ware. Ye throw 
No made againft the wall ! 

I fall not on my sad clay face before ye — 
I look on His. 



Ye are but fellow-wormippers with me ! 

Sleep, fleep, my worfhipped One ! 
We sate among the ftalls of Bethlehem. 
The dumb kine from their fodder turning them, 

Softened their horny faces. 

The fimple fhepherds from their ftar-lit brooks, 

Brought vifionary looks, 
As yet in their aftonied hearing rung 

The ftrange sweet angel-tongue. 
The magi of the Eaft, in sandals worn 

Knelt reverent. 



IO 



STABAT MATER (SPECIOSA). 



So let all earthlies and celeftials wait 
Upon Thy royal ftate. 
Sleep, fleep my kingly One ! 

I am not proud — not fraud I 
Albeit in my fiefh God sent His Son, 
Albeit over Him my head is bowed 
As others bow before Him, ftill my heart 
Bows lower than their knees. O centuries, 

Whose murmurs seem to reach me while I keep 

Watch o'er this fleep — 
Say of me as the Heavenly said, ' Thou art 
The blefledeft of women ! ' — blejfedejl, 
Not holieft, not noblejl — no high name 
Whose height misplaced may fierce me like a Jhame, 
When I Jit meek in heaven. For me, for me 
God kno<ws that I am feeble like the reji.^ 

We fhould know that a woman wrote this. It is 
a woman's utterance, and the truer because it is so. 
Great is the myflery of maternity ; great is the joy 
of a mother over her firft-born. But, in the ex- 
perience of the mother of our Lord, it was more 
than the common myftery and the common joy. 



STABAT MATER (SPECIOSA). 



II 



Heaven had come down to her. She, a lowly 
maiden, of meek thoughts, living in retirement, had, 
not long before, been surprised by an angelic embas- 
sage, authenticating her as the chosen infrrument of 
a ftupendous manifeftation, even the revelation of 
the great myftery of Godlinefs, God manifeft in 
the flefh, and that flem her flefh — a holy link born 
of her miraculous motherhood. She had felt the 
awe of a wondrous o'erfhadowing, and the thrill of a 
divine quickening, and the joy of a growing burden, 
and had sung her exultant Magnificat, and had been 
full of wonderings and worfhippings, long before the 
crowning beatitude of the bringing forth, and the 
seeing, and the hearing, and the laying in the bosom, 
and the chanting of the Gloria in Excelsis of the 
angels, and the homage of the fhepherds, and the 
proftrations of the magi. Was fhe therefore proud ? 
Proud ! Was fhe not therefore humble, yea, hum- 
bler than the humbled ? Who ought to kneel so 
low as fhe ? O for a humility as deep as the grace 
is high! No room here for the petty elations of 
vanity. To conceive of her as fitting queen of 
heaven, arrogating higheft titles, and receiving, well- 



12 



STABAT MATER (SPECIOSA). 



pleased, the kneeling homage of men and of angels, 
— what an indecency ! How it vulgarizes and de- 
grades her ; such an inverfion of noblenefs ; such 
an emptying of her true honor and proper glory, 
which confift in a peerlefs meeknefs, bowing ever 
lower and lower at the footftool, and her heart bow- 
ing ftill lower than her knees ! Call me u Blefled," 
but call me 

" no high name 
Whose height misplaced may pierce me like a mame 
When I fit meek in heaven." 

There is one other hymn on the same theme by 
Crafhaw, so full of paftoral sweetnefs, that we can- 
not forbear transcribing it here. Crafhaw, it is said, 
formed his ftyle on the moft quaint and conceited 
school of Italian poetry — that of Marino ; and 
there is often, it muft be admitted, a ftrained ex- 
preffion in his verses ; but there are also many ex- 
quifite touches of beauty and tendernefs, and a 
ftrength withal which more than compensates for 
an occafional harfhnefs. Of all his writings, he is 
beft known, perhaps, by his verfion of the Dies 
Irae. In 1634 he publifhed a volume of Latin 



STABAT MATER (SPECIOSA). 13 

poems under the title of Epigrammaia Sacra^ in 
which occurs that celebrated verse on the miracle at 
Cana : — 

" Lympha pudica Deum videt et erubuit." 

" The modeft water saw its God and bluflied." 

It is a curious fact: that both Milton and Dryden 
have each been credited with the authorfhip of the 
line as given in Englifh, varied only by the subftitu- 
tion of the epithet " conscious " for " modeft." 

His " Hymn on the Nativity as sung by Shep- 
herds," given below, was probably suggefted by 
Correggio's far-famed picture in the Dresden Gal- 
lery, called "La Notte " (The Night), and forms 
a fit companion to it. Picture and poem have com- 
mon attributes, so that it may properly be said, 
that the one is the other, — that the poem is a 
picture, and the picture a poem. In both, the form 
of the Divine Infant is finely imagined as the radi- 
ant centre of a supernatural illumination dazzling to 
all eyes in the picture except those of the virgin 
mother, while figns of daybreak are seen along the 
eaftern horizon, emblem of " the dayspring from on 
high : " — 



14 STABAT MATER (SPECIOSA). 

" Gloomy night embraced the place 
Where the noble Infant 1:.)' : 
The Babe looked up and fhonued its face — 
In spite of darknefs it 'was day. 
We saw Thee in Thy balmy neft, 
Bright dawn of an eternal day — 
We saw Thine eyes break from the Eaft, 
And chase their trembling (hades away, 
We saw Thee and we bleff'd the light — 
We saiv Thee by Thine oivn suueet light. 

She fings Thy tears afleep, and dips 

Her kiffes in Thy weeping eyes ; 

She spreads the red leaves of Thy lips, 

That in their buds yet bluming lie ; 

Yet when young April's hufband-mowers 

Shall blefs the fruitful Maia's bed, 

We '11 bring the firft-born of her flowers 

To kifs Thy feet and crown Thy head. 

To Thee, dread Lamb ! whose love mull keep 

The fhepherds more than they the fheep — 

To Thee, meek Majefty ! soft King ! 

Of limple graces and sweet loves, — 

Each of us his lamb will bring, 

Each his pair of filver doves." 



Does the nightingale fing more sweetly ? 



STABAT MATER (SPECIOSA). 



15 



" Sweet bird, that fliuns the noise of folly — 
Moft mufical, moft melancholy." 

In this new attempt to turn the Mater Speciosa 
into Englifh, we have tried, as in other tranflations, 
to preserve, as far as poffible, the form and spirit of 
the original. The authorized text of the Mater 
Dolorosa^ being that of the Roman Breviary, com- 
prises ten ftanzas ; while that of the Mater Speciosa 
has two more, namely, the fifth and eleventh, whose 
answering ftanzas therefore muft be looked for in 
some other text. 



STABAT MATER 



(SPECIOSA). 
I. 

TABAT Mater speciosa, 
Juxta foenum gaudiosa, 

Dum jacebat parvulus 
Cujus animam gaudentem, 
(Stabundam ac ferventem, 
Pertranfivit jubilus. 

II. 

O quam laeta et beata, 
Fuit ilia immaculata 

Mater Unigeniti ! 
Quae gaudebat et ridebat 
Exultabat, cum videbat 

Nati partum inclyti. 




HYMN OF THE JOYS OF MARY. 



i. 

rOOD the glad and beauteous mother, 
By the hay, where, like no other, 
Lay her little Infant Boy : 
Through whose soul — rejoicing, yearn- 
ing* 

And with love maternal burning — 
Thrilling pafled the lyric joy. 

ii. 

Oh what grace to her allotted, 
Blefled mother and unspotted 

Of the Sole Begotten One ! 
Who rejoiced with filvery laughter 
As fhe gazed exulting, after 

Birth of her Illuftrious Son. 




STABAT MATER (SPECIOSA). 



III. 

Quis jam eft, qui non gauderet 
Chrifti matrem ft videret 

In tanto solatio ? 
Quis non poflet collaetari 
Chrifti matrem contemplari 

Ludentem cum filio ? 

IV. 

Pro peccatis suae gentis, 
Chriftum vidit cum jumentis, 

Et algori subditum j 
Vidit suum dulcem natum 
Vagientem, adoratum, 

Vili diversorio. 

v. 

Nato Chrifto in praesepe, 
Cceli cives canunt laete 

Cum immenso gaudio ; 
Stabat senex cum puella, 
Non cum verbo nec loquela, 

Stupescentes cordibus. 



STABAT MATER (SPECIOSA). 



III. 

Who is he, would joy not greatly, 
If he saw Chrift's mother, lately 

With such solace happy made ? 
Who could view without emotion 
That fond mother's rapt devotion, 
Playing with her smiling Babe ? 

IV. 

For His people's fins providing, 
Chrift fhe saw with cattle biding, 

And exposed to winter keen : 
Saw her Darling Offspring, crying 
As an infant, worfhipped, lying 

In a lodging vile and mean. 

v. 

O'er that scene surpaffing fable, 
Sing they, Chrift born in a ftable, 

Heavenly hofts with joy immense: 
Old men ftood with maidens gazing, 
Speechlefs at that fight amazing, 

In aftonifhment intense- 



oTABAT MATER (SPECIOSAJ. 



VI. 

Eja Mater, fons amoris, 
Me sentire vim ardoris, 

Fac ut tecum sentiam 
Fac ut ardeat cor meum 
In amatum Chriftum Deum, 

Ut Sibi complaceam. 

VII. 

Sancta Mater, iftud agas, 
Prone introducas plagas 

Cordi fixas valide. 
Tui nati ccelo lapfi, 
Jam dignati foeno nasci 

Pcenas mecum divide, 

VIII. 

Fac me vere congaudere, 
Jesulino cohaerere, 

Donee ego vixero ! 
In me fiftat ardor tui ; 
Puerino fac me frui 

Dum sum in exilio! 



STABAT MATER (sPECIOSA). 



VI. 

Make me, Mother, fount of loving, 
Feel like force of araor moving, 

That I thus may feel with thee ! 
Let my heart with love be burning 
That, in Chrifr. my God discerning, 

I approved of Him may be ! 

VII. 

Do this, Mother, be entreated, 
Firmly fix His wounds, repeated 

Each in my heart crucified ! 
Of thy Son — the Heavenly Stranger, 
Deigning birth now in a manger — 

Sufferings with me divide ! 

VIII. 

Make me truly mare thy pleasure, 
Cleave to Jesus and Him treasure, 

While I live and all the while ! 
Work in me thy love's completenefs, 
Feaft me with thy Sweet One's sweetnefs 

To the end of my exile ! 



STABAT MATER SPECIOSA). 



IX. 

Virgo virginum praeclara, 
Mihi jam non fis amara, 

Fac me parvum rapere. 
Fac ut pulchrum fantem portem, 
Qui nascendo vicit mortem, 

Volens vitam tradere. 

x. 

Fac me tecum satiari, 
Nato me inebriari, 

Stans inter tripudio ! * 
Inflammatus et accensus 
Obftupescit omnis sensus 

Tali de commercio ! 

XI. 

Omnes ftabulum amantes 
Et paftores vigilantes 

Perno&antes soriant. 

Since inter never rules the ablative, Dr. Schaff proposes to 
: " ' Stantem in tripudio ! ' referring ' Stantem ' to ' me.' " 



STABAT MATER (SPECIOSA). 



IX. 

Maid all other maids exceeding, 
Be not bitter to my pleading, 

Let me take thy Little One ! 
Bear the Babe, His sweet smile wooing, 
Who in birth wrought death's undoing, 

Giving life when His begun ! 

x. 

Fill me with thy Child's carelTes, 
Make me, drunk with joy's excelTes, 

In thy leaping transport fliare ! 
Fired and kindled, ftruck with wonder, 
Let each sense the power be under 

Of such commerce sweet and rare ! 

XI. 

All who love the {table, blending 
With the watching Ihepherds, spending 
All the night, compose one band. 



STABAT MATER (sPECIOSA) 

Per virtutem nati tui 
Ora ut electi sui 

Ad patriam veniant! 

XII. 

Fac me nato cuftodiri 
Verbo Dei praemuniri, 

Conservari gratia ; 
Quando corpus morietur, 
Fac ut animae donetur 

Tui nati vilio. 



STABAT MATER {SPECIOSA). 25 

Pray, through ftrength of His deserving, 
His eled, with course unswerving, 
May attain the heavenly land ! 

XII. 

Let me by thy Son be warded, 
By the word of God be guarded, 

Kept by grace, refused to none ! 
When my body death hath riven, 
Grant that to my soul be given 

Joyful viuon of thy Son ! 



OLD GEMS IN NEW SETTINGS. 



0k 



X 



St Augustine and his Mother. 
(art scheffer.) 



ems 



IN NEW SETTINGS 

COMPRISING THE 

CHOICEST OF MEDIAEVAL HYMNS 

WITH 

ORIGINAL TRANSLATIONS 

BY 

ABRAHAM COLES, M. D., Ph. D. 

THIRD EDITION. 



NEW YORK 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 

1891 
e<7 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

urbs ccelestis syon ; or, the better country 7 

Veni Sancte Spiritus 50 

Veni Creator SpmTus 58 

Alphabetic Judgment Hymn (Hymnus Alpha- 

beticus de Die Judicii) 69 

On Contempt of the World (Carmen Jaco- 

poni de Contemptu Mundi,) .... 76 



URBS CCELESTIS SYON ; 



OR, 

THE BETTER COUNTRY. 

N Trench's " Sacred Latin Poetry " is 
given a beautiful Cento of ninety-fix 
lines, descriptive of the Heavenly Zion, 
taken from the firft part of a long poem 
of nearly three thousand lines, entitled " De Con- 
temptu Mundi" written in the 1 2th century by 
Bernard de Morlas, Monk of Cluny, so called 
to diftinguifh him from his famous contemporary St. 
Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux. Of this Cento a new 
tranflation is here attempted. Prefixed to it are the 
eight opening lines of the Poem, admonitory of the 
nearness of Chrift's second coming to judge the 
world. 

Rev. Dr. John Mason Neale, an accompliftied 




8 



URBS CCELESTIS SYON. 



scholar of England, juft deceased, whose tranflations 
of various mediaeval hymns have met with much and 
merited favor, gave a verfion of the larger part of the 
above Cento under the title of " The Celeftial Coun- 
try," following, as he tells us, the arrangement of 
Trench and not that of Bernard. The great popular- 
ity which this attained, as evinced by the numerous 
hymns compiled from it — " Jerusalem the Golden," 
in particular, having found a place, he gratefully ob- 
serves, in some twenty hymnals — " led him to think 
that a fuller extract from the Latin and a further 
tranflation into Englifh might not be unaccept- 
able." 

Whether by this process there was not as much 
loft as gained admits of some doubt. It set afide 
Trench's labor of love as impertinent or useless. The 
matter of the earlier tranflation, with which many 
had become familiar, could only be found by diligent 
search, disjecta membra poeta, scattered everywhere 
up and down the later work. One, however, might 
become reconciled to this, provided improvement 
always followed; but we think this can hardly be 
claimed. On the contrary, what is added too often 



THE BETTER COUNTRY. 



'9 



appears crude, or incongruous, or out of place, or of 
inferior intereft. For example, we read : — 

" Here, is the warlike trumpet, 
There, life set free from fin, 
When to the laft Great Supper 

The faithful mail come in ; 
When the heavenly net is laden 
With fifties many and great, 
( So glorious in its fulness 
And so inviolate.)" 

Without access to the original, it would be im- 
poflible to say which is responfible, the author or 
the tranflator, for the ftrange groupings contained in 
the following verses : — 

11 Jefus, the Gem of Beauty, 

True God and Man, they fing, 
The never -failing Garden, 

The (f-^r-golden Ring, 
The Door, the Pledge, the Hufband, 

The Guardian of the Court, 
The Day-ftar of Salvation, 

The Porter and the Port." 



What better is this than a diftracting medley of 
names, whose meaning and fitness, so far from being 

2 



ro 



t*RBS CCELEST1S *VOIf. 



immediately obvious, it is hard to discover even with 
time and ftudy. Certainly, one needs to pofless a 
rare nimbleness of fancy to qualify him to overleap 
such wide spaces as intervene between " the never- 
failing Garden" and the Ci ever-golden Ring," thence 
on from " the Door, the Pledge, the Hufband," to 
the diftant and final refting-place, " the Porter and 
the Port" (whatever these may be), without longer 
pauses in the tranfition than the punctuation calls for. 
The framer of the Cento did well, therefore, we 
think, in leaving out lines like these, and no advan- 
tage has resulted from their reftoration. 

In regard to the extraordinary merit of the orig- 
inal poem — at leaft that part of it which forms the 
exordium, wherein an attempt is made to set forth 
the purity and peace of the heavenly Paradise, by 
way of contraft, and for the purpose of throwing 
into yet bolder and more appalling relief the abound- 
ing pollutions and miseries of earth which it is the 
chief defign of the poem to present — there can be 
but one opinion. Such is Dr. Neale's appreciation 
of its excellence, that he has " no hefitation in say- 



THE BETTER COUNTRY. 



II 



ing that he looks on these verses of Bernard as the 
moft lovely, in the same way that the Dies Ira is 
the moft sublime, and the Stabat Mater is the moft 
pathetic, of mediaeval poems. They are, he thinks, 
even superior to that glorious hymn on the same 
subject, the De G lor id et Gaudiis Paradiji of St. 
Peter Damiani. So Trench looks upon " the Ode 
of Cafimir (the great Latin poet of Poland) Urit 
me Patria decor^ which turns upon the same theme, 
— the heavenly homefickness, — with all its claffical 
beauty, as a less real and deep utterance than the 
poor Cluniac monk's." 

The great and immediate popularity of Neale's 
tranflation, notwithstanding its defects, is a further 
proof, and the moft conclufive one, perhaps, of all, 
that it polTefles the elements of genuine power — 
has indeed that imperifhable principle of lyric life 
which fits it to be the interpreter of the human heart 
in all ages, in the nineteenth century no less than 
the twelfth. It too doubtless owes much to its 
theme, which has furnifhed other hymns of great 
sweetness befides those already named. Two in par- 
ticular are deserving of special mention, — one in 



12 



URBS CCELESTIS SYON. 



Latin, Urbs beata Hirusalem, and one in Englim, 
O Mother dtar, Jerusalem. But the heavenly heart- 
ache, with the soul enamored of its home in the 
skies, and longing to depart, never, it is safe to say, 
found a sweeter or more touching expreflion than in 
these lines of Bernard. In each golden furrow of 
verse are scattered in rich profufion the ripe verita- 
ble seeds of those immortal flowers that bloom in 
Paradise, whence — 

" Gentle gales, 
Fanning their odoriferous wings, dispense 
Native perfumes, and whisper whence they ftole 
Those balmy spoils. As when to those who sail 
Beyond the Cape of Hope, and now are paft 
Mozambic, off at sea north-eaft winds blow 
Sabean odors from the spicy more 
Of Araby the bleft." 

We are perpetually reminded, of course, that the 
finger is ftill in the body, in which " he groans, be- 
ing burdened " — " without are fightings and within 
are fears " — is a mourning exile, waiting deliver- 
ance, fick from deferred hope, not yet permitted to 
enter the Land of Promise, but nevertheless in lieu 
thereof lifted to the Mount of Vifion, and favored 



THE BETTER COUNTRY. 



J 3 



with ecftatic glimpses that "bring all heaven before 
his eyes." No wonder, therefore, his ftrain is a min- 
gled one, by turns exultant and sad ; its rejoicings 
full of interjecied fighs — suspirations and aspirations 
in the same breath. The holy inhabitants seem 
almoft c< too happy in their happiness ; " it makes the 
contraft with the present ftate too great, too painful ; 
it even begets doubt, because it seems too much to 
expecl: ; hope is afraid to soar so high. The mind 
is described as finking down baffled and overwhelmed 
under the preffure of that " far more exceeding and 
eternal weight of glory," blinded and overpowered 
by the intolerable splendors of the New Jerusalem ; 
and we are reminded of that fine outburft of Pindaric 
rapture in which u the Bard " of Gray, in like man- 
ner dazzled and amazed by the unexpected fight of 
England's diftant renown and greatness, exclaims : — 

" But oh, what solemn scenes on Snowdon's height 
Descending flow their glittering fkirts unroll ? 
Vifions of glory, spare my aching fight, 
Ye unborn ages, crowd not on my soul." 

Of the hiftory of the original poem, this much is 
known. It was written about the year 1145 by 



24 



URBS CCELESTIS SYON. 



Bernard, a Cluniac monk, as already ftated, and ad- 
dreffed to Peter, his own abbot. Judging from his 
writings, he muft have poflefled a spirit almoft as 
dauntless as Luther's. Apparently actuated by a 
righteous zeal to correct some of the mocking abuses 
which everywhere prevailed to the disgrace of the 
Chriftian name, he in this poem with terrible sever- 
ity and with matchless power of sarcasm exposes 
and alTails them, — plainly denounces the fhameful 
greed and venality of the Roman court, corrupt from 
the Pope down, where fimony was openly practiced, 
and nothing could be got without money, but any 
thing with. Here is a specimen of his manner : — 

" Si tua nuncia praevenit uncia, surge, sequaris ; 
Expete limina, nulla gravamina jam verearis: 
Si datur uncia, flat prope gratia Pontificalis ; 
Sin procul haec valet, haec tibi lex manet eft schola talis." 

Money is needed, if that has preceded, rise, follow, and 
enter; 

Bars of the gateway removed (hall be ftraightway, now fear 
no preventer ; 

Give but the penny, then nigh thee is any Pontifical favor ; 
Far off or faileth this thing that availeth, thy case is much 
graver. 



THE BETTER COUNTRY. 



15 



Such being its character, it is not surprifing, per- 
haps, that it has been a greater favorite with Protect- 
ants than with Catholics, and that during the time of 
and fince the Reformation editions have multiplied. 
It was unburied and firft printed at Paris in 1483. 
Flacius, in a rare work publifhed at Bale in 1557, 
(Varia doctor um, plorumque vivorum de corrupto Ec- 
clefice Jiatu PoemataJ) pp. 247-349, gives it with the 
title : Bernhardus Cluntacus de Contemptu Mundi. 
Ad Petrum Abhatum suum. It was reprinted in 
1597, and again in 1610, and more recently ftill in 
Wachler's "Annals" in 1820. Daniel in his "The- 
saurus Hymnologicus " gives only the firft eight lines 
under the heading De NoviJJimis. These opening 
lines are repeated here to illuftrate the ftructure of 
the verse, which of itself is one of the curiofities of 
literature. It is a bold attempt to combine ancient 
prosody with modern rhyme. Each hexameter line 
is made to confift of five dactyls and a final trochee, 
the second and fourth dactylic feet rhyming together, 
and the trochaic ending rhyming with the corre- 
sponding foot of the following line ; or, as it may be 
otherwise exprefled, it is an example of " leonine 



ID 



URBS CCELESTIS SYON. 



and tailed rhyme, with lines in three parts, between 
which a caesura is not admiffible." Below we have 
sought to represent to the eye these peculiarities of 
ftru&ure by marks ; and furthermore, have ventured 
a continuation of the attempt juft made, to imitate 
the metre in an Englifh tranflation rendered as literal 
as poffible. While one would not care to prosecute 
it through a long poem, we are persuaded the thing 
could be done, and in a manner to make the verse 
tolerably readable and effective. The perpendicular 
lines of divifion indicate the three parts — the firfb 
two parts containing two dactyls each, the second 
and fourth forming a rhyme ; and the third part con- 
taining one dactyl and one trochee, the final trochee 
forming a double rhyme with that of the next line. 
De Novissimis. 

* Hora nbvlssXma, || tempora pes.fS/#a|| sunt ; vigilemus ! 
Ecce ! mimciter || imminet Arbiter || ille sxxpremus ! 
Imminet, \mminet\ut mala terminer |j aequa coronet, 
Re&a remuneret j| anxia liberet, || aethera donet, 
Auferat zspera |j duraque vyoudera || mentis onujlce, 
Sobria muniat || improba ]>uniat\\ utr aque jufte, 
Hie rnisfimus, \\ ille gravis/imus , j| ecce ! venit Rex I 
Surgat homo reus I j| Inftat Homo Deiu || a Patre Judex" 



THE BETTER COUNTRY. 



17 



Of the Last Times. 

Laft hours now tolling are, || worft times unrolling are ; |J 
watch ! there is danger. 

Ld ! in sublimity, || threatening proximity, || hdver'th th' Aven- 
ger ! 

Hdvereth, hdvereth, j| evil uncdvereth, || equity crdwneth ; 
Right He rewardeth then, || comfort afFdrdeth then, || hdirs of 

heaven dwneth ; 
Frdm the mind, dnerous j| burdens and ponderous || bedreth He 

lightly ; 

Righteous prote6leth He, || wicked rejdfteth He || both alike 
rightly ; 

King in His cidmency || awful supremacy || cdmeth to gather — 
Man disentombing, the || Gdd-Man him ddoming, the || Judge 
from the Father. 

Surely cc there is a pleasure in poetic pains that 
poets only know," otherwise it is impoffible to con- 
ceive that human patience could have held out in 
the building up of three thousand lines in so difficult 
a metre. Like the execution of those pictures in 
mosaic, seen in St. Peter's at Rome, which took 
from twelve to twenty years to complete, it so far 
transcends all modern capabilities, that one is tempted 
to class Patience, in its higher manifeftations at leaft, 
3 



i8 



URBS CCELESTIS SYON. 



among "the Loft Arts." The author himself seems 
to have been filled with wonder at his own perform- 
ance ; and pioufly acknowledges, that " ir he had 
not received directly from on high the gift of intelli- 
gence, he had not dared to attempt an enterprise 
so little adapted to the powers of the human mind." 
What was difficult for the author would be tenfold 
more difficult for the tranflator, because there hang 
upon him numerous clogs from which the other is 
free. Dr. Neale says : — " I have deviated from 
my ordinary rule of adopting the measure of the orig- 
inal, because our language, if it could be tortured to 
any diftant resemblance of its rhythm, would utterly 
fail to give any idea of the majeftic sweetness of the 
Latin." Whether it was neceflary or wise to go to 
the other extreme — of ballad plainness and fimplicity 
— some may doubt. 

The artful character of the verse, which confti- 
tuted one of its chief diftin£Hons, and upon which 
the author had beftowed so much labor, was thereby 
neceflarily loft, as well as the richness and melody of 
its oft-recurring rhymes. In the tranflation here 
given, the writer has sought to preserve " the leo- 



THE BETTER COUNTRY. 



J 9 



nine and tailed rhymes, with the lines in three parts," 
only lengthening the third member so as to make of it 
another line, and ufing anapefts inftead of dactyls, 
as being a kind of verse better suited to the genius 
of Englifh prosody,- — the dactylic form being seldom 
used, because less flowing and pleafing to the ear. 
Had it been thought beft that the dactylic hexameter 
form fhould be retained, he is hardly prepared to go 
the length of Dr. Neale and deny its poffibility. 

How far the present tranflator has succeeded it is 
of course for others to judge. He admits that if it 
were as easy to be faultless as it is to find fault, there 
would be no excuse for imperfection. He claims 
nothing for his verfion. It is sent forth as a timid 
and humble candidate for public favor, but at the 
same time not as a mendicant, afking alms and beg- 
ging leave to be. If worthless, let it die — in other 
words, let nobody read it. So of his other verfions. 
The name, " The Better Country," was chosen 
to diftinguifh it from others upon the same theme. 
That it will supersede " The Celeftial Country " 
is neither expected nor defired. 



URBS CCELESTIS SYON. 



ORA no villi ma, tempora peffima 



Ecce ! minaciter imminet Arbiter 
llle supremus : 
Imminet, imminet ut mala terminet 

aequa coronet, 
Re&a remuneret, anxia liberet, 

aethera donet ; 
Auferat aspera duraque pondera 

mentis onuftae 
Sobria muniat, improba puniat 




sunt ; vigilemus ! 



utraque jufte. 



THE BETTER COUNTRY. 



HE laft of the hours, iniquity towers, 
The times are the worft, let us vigils 

be keeping! 
Left the Judge who is near, and soon 
to appear, 

Shall us at His coming find flumbering and fleep- 
ing. 

He is nigh, He is nigh ! He descends from the fky 

For the ending of evil, the right's coronation, 
The juft to reward, relief to afford, 

And the heavens beftow for the saints' habitation : 
To lift and unbind grievous weights from the mind, 

To give every man what is juft and is equal, 
To make the good glad, and punifh the bad, 

To the praise of His juftice and grace in the sequel. 




URBS CCELESTIS SYON. 



Ille piiflimus, ille graviffimus 

ecce ! venit Rex 
Surgat homo reus ! Inftat Homo Deus 

a Patre Judex. 



Hie breve vivitur, hie breve plangitur 

hie breve fletur ; 
Non breve vivere, non breve plangere 

retribuetur ; 
O retributio ! flat brevis actio 

vita perennis ; 
O retributio ! ccelica manfio 

ftat lue plenis ; 
Quid datur et quibus ? aether egentibus 

et cruce dignis, 
Sidera vermibus, optima sontibus, 

aftra malignis. 
Sunt modo praslia, poftmodo praemia ; 

qualia ? plena, 



THE BETTER COUNTRY. 23 

Moft clement and dear, moft juft and severe, 
Lo ! co-meth the King in terrible splendor, 

Man springs from the sod, and the Man who is God, 
The Judge from the Father, ftands sentence to 
render. 

The life here below so brief is brief woe, 

A brief mortal space for weeping afforded ; — 
Not briefly to figh, then lie down and die, 

Is the life that 's to be hereafter awarded. 
O moft blefled award ! the gift of the Lord, 

A life whose long years cannot be computed ; 
O ftrange award given ! a manfion in heaven 

Affigned to the guilty, the sometime polluted. 
What 's given, and to whom ? In the firmament, 
room 

To the needy and those by the cross worthy 
rendered — 

Yea, on Mercy's sweet terms, orbs celeftial to 
worms, 

To felons the beft, to the hateful ftars, tendered. 
Now are battles moft hard ; after these the reward. 
Reward of what sort ? Reward without meas- 



URBS CCELESTIS SYON. 

Plena refectio, nullaque paflio, 

nullaque poena ; 
Spe modo vivitur, et Sion angitur 

a Babylone ; 
Nunc tribulatio, tunc recreatio, 

sceptra, coronae 
Tunc nova gloria pe£tora sobria 

clarificabit, 
Solvet enigmata, veraque sabbata 

continuabit. 

Liber et hoftibus, et dominantibus 

ibit Hebraeus j 
Liber habebitur et celebrabitur 

hinc jubilaeus. 
Patria luminis, inscia turbinis 

inscia litis, 
Cive replebitur, amplificabitur 

Israelitis - $ 



THE BETTER COUNTRY, 



2 5 



Full refrefhment, repose, full exemption from woes, 
No suffering, no pain, only unalloyed pleasure. 

Now live we in hope, and Zion muft cope 
With Babylon proud and the powers infernal ; 

Now affliction makes sad, then delight ftiall make 
glad, 

And there mall be crowns and sceptres supernal. 
Then new glory divine on the righteous fhall fhine, 
And chase from their breafts the darkness that 
paineth, 

Chase doubt and chase fear, and enigmas make 
clear — 

The light of true sabbaths, "the reft that re- 
mained!." 

All free from the foe and his mafter mail go 
The Hebrew, whose feet heavy chains now en- 
viron ; — 

He henceforth held free mail keep jubilee, 
No more to be bound in affliction and iron. 

A Country of light, unacquainted with night, 
Where of tempeft and ftrife nothing breaks the 
deep (lumber, 

With inhabitants free it ceplenifhed fhall be — 
Enlarged with true Israelites countless in number. 



URBS CCELESTIS SYON. 

Patria splendida, terraque florida, 

libera spinis, 
Danda fidelibus eft ibi civibus 

hie peregrinis. 
Tunc erit omnibus inspicientibus 

ora Tonantis 
Summa potentia, plena scientia, 

pax pia sandtis ; 
Pax fine crimine, pax fine turbine, 

pax fine rixa, 
Meta laboribus, atque tumultibus 

anchora fixa. 
Pars mea Rex meus, in proprio Deus 

ipse decore, 
Visus amabitur, atque videbitur 

AucT:or in ore. 
Tunc Jacob Israel, et Lia tunc Rachel 

efficietur, 
Tunc Syon atria pulchraque patria 

perficietur 



THE BETTER COUNTRY. 



2 7 



Country splendid and grand, and a flowery land 
Thac 's free from all thorns and free from all 
dangers, 

Is there to be given to the free born of heaven — 
The faithful, who here are now pilgrims and 
ftrans;ers. 

Shall then be unrolled, to all that behold 

The face of the Thunderer, and to such solely, 
The utmoft extreme of power supreme, 

Full knowledge, the unutterable peace of'the holy : 
A peace by the tongue of flander unftung ; [cor, 

A peace without ftorm, without wrangling or ran- 
To labors a goal, and to billows that roll 

And tumults a fixed immovable anchor. 
My King is my part, God Himself in my heart, 

In His own proper beauty auguft and endearing, 
I fhall see and enfhrine and challenge as mine, — 

My Author and Saviour, — before Him appear- 
ing. 

Then the Israel of grace fhall Jacob displace, 
And Leah be Rachel in form and affection j 

Then Zion fhall ftand, a beautiful land, 

In all the completeness of God-like perfection. 



UKBS CCELESTIS SYON. 

O bona Patria, lumina sobria 

te speculantur, 
Ad tua nomina lumina sobria 

collacrymantur ; 
Eft tua mentio pe&oris un&io, 

cura doloris, 
Concipientibus aethera mentibus 

ignis amoris. 
Tu locus unicus, illeque coelicus 

es paradisus, 
Non ibi lacryma, sed placidiflima 

gaudia, risus. 
Eft ibi confita laurus, et infita 

cedrus hysopo j 
Sunt radiantia jaspide moenia 

clara pyropo : 
Hinc tibi sardius, inde topazius, 

hinc amethyftus j 
Eft tua fabrica concio ccelica 

gemmaque Chriftus. 




FAITH AND HOPE. 
(art scheffbr.) 



THE BETTER COUNTRY. 20, 

O Country moft dear, our longing eyes here, 
As they view thee afar, with defire are aching ; 

At the sound of thy name our hearts are aflame, 
And our eyes are aweary 'twixt weeping and 
waking. 

Thy mention brings reft, is balm to the breaft, 

Is the cure of our grief, and takes away sadness ; 
The thinking of thee and the bliss that mall be, 

Is a fire of love and a fountain of gladness. 
The only place thou that draws our hearts now, — 

Thou Paradise art, thou our blissful Hereafter ; 
No tears are found there, no sorrow, no care, 

But sereneft rejoicings and innocent laughter. 
There planted are seen, eternally green, 

The laurel and cedar, with the hyflbp low grow- 
ing ; 

There are walls with the rays of the jasper ablaze, 
With the carbuncle bright, incandescent and 
glowing : 

The sardius mines there, here the topaz moft rare, 
Here the beams of the amethyft with the reft 
mingle ; 

To thy fabric belong the heavenly throng, 

The corner-ftone Chrift, gem precious and Angle. 



URBS CCELESTIS SYON. 

Tu fine littore, tu fine tempore, 

fons modo rivus, 
Dulce bonis sapis, eftque tibi lapis 

undique vivus. 
Eft tibi laurea, dos datur aurea, 

sponsa decora, 
Primaque Principis oscula suscipis, 

inspicis ora : 
Candida lilia, viva monilia 

sunt tibi, sponsa, 
Agnus adeft tibi, Sponsus adeft tibi, 

lux speciosa ; 
Tota negocia, cantica dulcia 

dulce tonare, 
Tam mala debita, quam bona praebita 

conjubilare. 
Urbs Syon aurea, patria la£tea, 

cive decora, 
Omne cor obruis, omnibus obftruis 

et cor et ora. 



THE BETTER COUNTRY. 31 

Without fhore, without time, everlafting, sublime, 

Thou, fountain and ftream late hitherward flowing, 
To the good tafteft sweet, living rock at their feet 

That all through the wilderness gladdened their 
going. [never brown ; 

Thine 's the laurel's green crown with its leaf 

Rich dower all golden, fair spouse, is thee given ; 
Thine 's the exquifite bliss of the Prince's firft kiss, 

And the fight of His face like a vifion of heaven. 
Fair lilies and white, living gems flaming bright, 

Compose, happy spouse, thy bridal adorning ; 
Sits the Lamb by thy fide, and beams on His bride, 

Like the sun when he breaks through the gates 
of the morning ; 
Thy whole sweet employ, in triumph and joy, 

Sweet anthems of praise to warble forever ; 
Evils merited tell, bleffings granted as well, 

With fhoutings to grace that terminate never. 
City golden and bleft, from thy fields' teeming breaft 

Flow rivers of milk, — fair people, fair dwellings ; 
Thou the whole heart doft whelm, such the 
charms of thy realm, 

Choked is the voice with the heart's mighty 
swellings. 



URBS CCELESTIS SYON. 

Nescio, nescio, quae jubilatio, 

lux tibi qualis, 
Quam socialia gaudia, gloria 

quam specialis : 
Laude ftudens ea tollere, mens mea 

victa fatiscit ; 
O bona gloria, vincor ; in omnia 

laus tua vicit. 
Sunt Syon atria conjubilantia, 

martyre plena, 
Give micantia, Principe ftantia, 

luce serena : 
Eft ibi pascua, mitibus afflua^, 

praeftita Sanctis, 
Regis ibi thronus, agminis et sonus 

eft epulantis. 
Gens duce splendida, concio Candida 

veftibus albis 
Sunt fine fletibus in Syon aedibus 

aedibus almis ; 



THE BETTER COUNTRY. 33 

Confined here below, I pretend not to know 

What forms this rejoicing, the kind of light given, 
Nor how lofty the heights of those social delights, 

Nor how special the glory that conftitutes heaven. 
These ftriving to raise in an effort of praise, 

My mind overmaftered, lo ! fainteth and faileth 5 
O glory unknown, I am conquered I own, 

Thy superior praise in all things prevaileth. 
There are fhoutings and calls in thy echoing halls 

With the martyr hoft full, a glorious mufter, 
With the citizen, bright, with the Prince aye in fight, 

Serene evermore with a soft, sacred luftre. 
There sweet paftures around for the gentle abound, 

For the saints a dear flock by the water-brooks 
grazing ; 

There's the throne of the King, there the palace- 
walls ring 

With the sound of a multitude feafting and praifing. 
Nation glorious and grand, through the conquering 
hand 

Of the Leader, a hoft in white veftments mining, 
Through the long rolling years they remain with- 
out tears ; [ m g» 
In the dwellings of Zion there is reft from repin- 
5 



URBS CCELESTIS SYON. 

Sunt fine crimine, sunt fine turbine, 
sunt fine lite, 

In Syon aedibus editioribus 

Israelitae. 

Urbs Syon inclyta, gloria debita 

glorificandis, 
Tu bona vilibus interioribus 

intima pandis : 
Intima lumina, mentis acumina 

te speculantur, 
Pe£tora flammea spe modo, poftea 

sorte lucrantur. 
Urbs Syon unica, manfio myftica, 

condita coelo, 
Nunc tibi gaudeo, nunc mihi lugeo, 

triftor, anhelo : 
Te quia corpore non queo, pectore 

saepe penetro, 




EC ST AS 



THE BETTER COUNTRY. 



35 



Without crime, without ftorm, to mar and deform, 
Without weapons of ftrife, without matter of 
quarrel, 

The Israelites bleft in their lofty homes reft, — 
The olive of peace intertwined with the laurel 

O illuftrious name, Zion, higheft in fame, 
Whose glory is that to the glorified owing, 

Thou doft knowledge dispense to the innermoft 
sense, 

Thy innermoft good thus secretly fhowing. 
My innermoft eyes, thus piercing the fkies, 

From the mind's higheft peaks delighted behold 
thee ; 

Now my breaft, all on fire with hope and defire, 
Transported expects sometime to enfold thee. 

Thou Zion art one, befide thee is none, — 
Upreared in the fkies a myftical dwelling, — 

Now in thee I am glad, now in me I am sad, 
I sob and I figh with breaft heaving and swelling. 

Since the body's dull clod keeps me back from my 
God, 

Thee to pierce I oft try with spiritual pinion, 



URBS CCELESTIS SYON. 



Sed caro terrea, terraque carnea, 

mox cado iet.ro, 
Nemo retexere, nemoque promere 

suftinet ore 
Quo tua moenia 5 quo capitalia 

plena decore ; 
Opprimit omne cor ille tuus decor, 

O Syon, O pax, 
Urbs fine tempore, nulla poteft fore 

laus tibi mendax 
O fine luxibus, O fine ludtibus, 

O fine lite. 
Splendida curia, florida patria, 

patria vitae ! 
Urbs Syon inclyta, turris et edita 

littore tuto, 
Te peto, te colo, te flagro, te volo, 

canto, saluto ; 



THE BETTER COUNTRY. 



3? 



But earthy flefh, flefhy earth, makes th' attempt 
little worth, 

And I quickly fall back to the senses' dominion. 
No mortal may dare with his mouth to declare — 
The tafk were presumptuous and desperate the 
duty — 

Where thy walls, how they rise, in what part of the 
fkies 

Thy capitals mine complete in their beauty. 
Thy charms, they weigh down the heart wholly and 
drown, 

O Zion ! O Peace beyond all conceiving ! 
City bleft, without time, dear, tranquil, sublime, 

No poflible praise can e'er be deceiving. 
No delights vain and lewd, and no sorrows intrude, 

No ftrife with its wafting, its burning and blafting ; 
Home happy and high, flowery land of the fky, 

Land native to bliss and the life everlafting. 
City, seen from afar, where the glorified are, 

On a safe and high more, lo ! thy towers are 
soaring ; 

Thee I sue, I admire, thee I love, I defire, 
Sing hymns unto thee, and salute thee adoring. 



URBS CGELESTIS SYON. 

Nec meritis peto, nam meritis meto 
morte perire, 

Nec reticens tego, quod meritis ego 
filius irae ; 

Vita quidem mea, vita nimis rea, 

mortua vita,. 
Quippe reatibus exitialibus 

obruta, trita. 
Spe tamen ambulo, praemia poftulo 

speque fideque^ 
Ilia perennia poftulo praemia 

nocte dieque* 
Me Pater optimus atque piiffimus 

ille creavit \ 
In lue pertulit, et lue suftulit, 

a lue lavit. 
Gratia coelica suftinet unica 

totius orbis, 



THE BETTER COUNTRY. 30 

Not on merit, but grace, I reft solely my case- 
For, measured by merit, condemned my condition ; 

Not dumb and perverse do I cover the worse — 
i own I 'm a child of wrath and perdition. 

My life 's a life spilt, void of good, full of guilt, 
A life like to death, without vital expreflions, 

Its innocence quenched, from its proper life 
wrenched, 

Deftroyed by reason of deadly transgreffions. 
Notwithftanding in hope I walk softly and grope, 

In hope and in faith heavenly guerdons beseeching ; 
I trembling and weak, eternal joys seek, 

By night and by day imploring hands reaching. 
Our Father above, whose nature is love, 

The beft and the deareft, He made and He 
saved me ; 

With my vileness He bore, from my vileness He 
tore, 

From my fin and uncleanness He graciously 
laved me. 

Grace celeftial alone, direcl: from the throne, 

Is the sovereign proviflon of God's own appointing, 



URBS CCELESTIS SYON. 

Parcere sordibus, interioribus 

un&io morbis ; 
Diluit omnia coelica gratia., 

fons David undans 
Omnia diluit, omnibus affluit 

omnia mundans ; 
O pia gratia, celsa palatia 

cernere praefta, 
Ut videam bona, feftaque consona 

coelica fefta. 
O mea, spes mea, tu Syon aurea, 

clarior auro, 

Agmine splendida, ftans duce, florida 

perpete lauro, 
O bona patria, num tua gaudia 

teque videbo ? 
O bona patria, num tua praemia 

plena tenebo? 
Die mihi, flagito, verbaque reddito 

dicque, Videbis. 



THE BETTER COUNTRY. 



41 



The sordid of soul to save and make whole, 

For inward diseases the potent anointing. 
Grace waflies away all pollution for aye,—- 

The Fountain of David, as free as redundant, 
Makes pure all within, makes clean from all fin, 

To all alike flows in measure abundant. 
O "excellent grace ! to an excellent place 

Me raise to discern ftately palaces gleaming, 
At a diftance, at leaft, see the heavenly feaft 

With holieft mirth and melody teeming. 
Thou Zion ! O mine, my hope all divine ! 

Like gold, but far nobler, t y our dazzled eyes 
looming, 

Moft brilliant thy hoft, but their Leader 's thy boaft, 
Brave region with laurel perpetually blooming. 

O Country moft sweet, fhall my eyes ever greet 
Thy turrets and towers, and know thy enjoy- 
ments ? 

O Country moft bleft, e'er in thee fhall I reft, 
PolTess thy rewards and fhare thy employments ? 

Tell me, I pray, render answer, and say : 

" Thou fhalt hereafter moft surely behold me — 



URBS CGELESTIS SYON. 

Spem solidam gero ; remne tenens ero ? 

die, Retinebis. 
O sacer, O pius, O ter et amplius 

ille beatus, 
Cui sua pars Deus : O miser, O reus 

hac viduatus. 
Bernardus Cluniacensis. 



THE BETTER COUNTRY. 43 

I hope entertain, the thing hoped shall I gain ? 
O say : Thou forever malt have, and fhalt hold 
me. 

Advanced to that sphere, O holy, molt dear, 
O blefTe'd, thrice bleffed and bleffed forever, 
Who with cleaving of heart, chose God for his 
part : 

O wretched, undone, who from this did him 
sever. 

Bernard of Cluny. (XII. Century.) 



VENI SANCTE SPIRITUS. 



LL lovers of sacred song agree in affign- 
ing to this Hymn a very high place. 
Clichtoveus thinks it is not poffible to 
praise it enough, and finds it easy to 
believe that the author in writing it was divinely 
inspired. Trench characterizes it " as the lovelieft 
of all the Hymns in the whole circle of Latin Sacred 
Poetry." Nor is it difficult to discover the grounds 
of so favorable an eftimate. 

Rarely has the spirit of prayer been more happily 
embodied, or "winged for speedier flight." It is 
the soul on its knees, devoutly receptive, every door 
thrown open, eager, expectant, looking and longing 
for the immediate coming of the Celeftial Vifitant, 
going forth to meet Him, to kiss His feet, to haften 
His approach, to teftify a holy and grateful welcome, 
not unmindful, but yet not deterred by the unspeak- 




VENI SANCTE SPIRITUS. 



45 



able greatness of the solicited condescenfion, in afk- 
ing One u whom the heaven of heavens cannot con- 
tain," to ftoop to the need and poverty of its low 
eftate, affured by the sure word of promise, and en- 
couraged by paft experiences of His faithfulness, 
that " whosoever afketh receiveth." Truly, it were 
hard to find a serener, sweeter, truer, truftfuller, 
terser utterance, where words so few exprefled so 
much, making the air mufical, charming the ear with 
their soft, plaintive cadences, and penetrating the 
heart with the infinuating grace of their prevalent 
pleading. 

The merits of its metrical ftrudture are in keeping 
with its other excellences. It has the triplet char- 
acter of Sequences in general, confifting of five 
ftrophes of fix lines of seven syllables, or ten half 
ftrophes, the firft and second lines of which rhyme 
together, the third rhyming with the corresponding 
third line of the following half ftrophe. The trans- 
lation here given is made to conform to the original 
in these as well as in other respects. 

A royal authorfhip is claimed for the Hymn. It 
is believed to have been written by Robert II. of 



♦6 



VENI SANCTE SPIRITUS. 



PVance, who at the age of twenty-four, in the year 
996, succeeded to his father, Hugh Capet, and 
reigned thirty-three years. He is described as — 
Omnigence virtutis alumnus, — 

" Pieux, jufte, savant, charitable, fidele, 
De toutes les vertus, quel plus parfait modele ? " 

By the sentence of Pope Gregory V., his firft mar- 
riage, which had been to Bertha, his coufin, was 
diffolved. He was afterwards married to Conftance, 
surnamed Blanche, daughter of William Count d' Aries 
& de Provence, a beautiful princess, but proud, capri- 
cious, and unbearable, who conducted herself in so 
ftrange and violent a manner that but for the moder- 
ation and wisdom of her hufband the kingdom would 
have been overturned. Befides being one of the 
mildeft of sovereigns and the meekeft of men, he is 
spoken of as one of the moft learned of his time, 
particularly in mathematics. So charitable was he 
that he had always a thousand poor under his care, 
whom he fed. He was addicted to both poetry and 
mufic, and so /killed in both of these arts that some 
of his compofitions are ftill extant and in use. The 



VENI SANCTE SPIRITUS. 



47 



following example of magnanimity, more than royal, 
is given. A dangerous conspiracy againft his king- 
dom and life having been discovered and the authors 
arretted, as the other nobles were aflembled to con- 
demn them to death, he caused them to be enter 
tained in a splendid manner, and the next day 
admitted them to the Holy Communion ; after which 
he set them at liberty, saying, that he could not put 
to death those whom Jesus Chrift had juft received 
at His table. If these few glimpses of his life re- 
veal to us the nature of some of his sorrows, the 
hymn here given, admitting that he was the author, 
mows no less clearly, as Trench remarks, the nature 
of his consolations. 

The Lutheran Form of Ordination prescribes that 
the " Veni San£te Spiritus " be sung at the begin- 
ning of that service. In the Romifh Church it is 
sung on Whitsunday and every day throughout the 
week till the Sabbath following. From the general 
flaughter of the Sequences made in the fixteenth 
century, this and three others were the only ones 
that escaped.* 

* See Dies Ir^e, p. 61. 



VENI SANCTE SPIRITUS. 



I. 

ENI, San&e Spiritus, 
Et emitte ccelitus, 

Lucis tuae radium. 
Veni, pater [wuperum, 
Veni, dator munerum, 
Veni, lumen cordium. 

ii. 

Consolator optime, 
Dulcis hospes animae, 

Dulce refrigerium. 
In labore requies, 
In aeftu temperies, 

In fletu solatium. 





VEOT SANCTE SPIRITUS. 
I. 

OME, O Holy Spirit, come, 
And from Thy celeftial heme 
Of Thy light a ray impart ! 
Come Thou, Father of the poor! 
Come Thou, Giver of heaven's ftore ! 
Come Thou, Light of every heart ! 

ii. 

Promised Comforter and beft, 
Of the soul the deareft Gueft, 

Sweet Refrefhment here below. 
Reft, in labor, to the feet, 
Coolness in the scorching heat. 

Solace in the time of woe. 
7 




VENI SANCTE SPIR1TUS. 



III. 

O lux beatiffima ! 
Reple cordis intima 

Tuorum fidelium. 
Sine tuo numine, 
Nihil eft in homine, 

Nihil eft innoxium. 

IV. 

Lava quod eft sordidum, 
Riga quod eft aridum, 

Sana quod eft saucium ! 
Fle£te quod eft rigidum, 
Fove quod eft frigidum, 

Rege quod eft devium ! 

v. 

Da tuis fidelibus, 
In te confidentibus, 

Sanctum septenarium : * 
Da virtutis meritum, 
Da salutis exitium, 
Da perenne gaudium ! 

Robertus Rex Francle, 
* The seven gifts of the Spirit. 



VENI SANCTE SPIR1TUS. 5 1 

III. 

O moll: bleffed Light ! the heart's 
Innermoft, mo ft hidden parts 

Of Thy faithful people, fill ! 
Not without Thy favor can 
Any thing be good in man, 

Any thing that is not ill. 

IV. 

What is sordid make Thou clean, 
What is dry make moift and green, 

What is wounded heal for aye. 
Bend what 's rigid to Thy will, 
Warm Thou whatsoe'er is chill, 

Guide what 's devious and aftray. 

v. 

To Thy faithful given be — 
Those confiding flill in Thee — 

Gracioufly the holy seven : 
Give Thou virtue's recompense, 
Give a safe departure hence, 
Give th' eternal joy of heaven. 

Robert II. of Franxe. 
(Beginning of XI. Century.) 



VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS. 



HIS well-known Hymn, older than the 
" Veni Sancle Spiritus," is of the same 
pure type, both being happily character- 
ized by a mo ft unromifh catholicity that 
makes them sweetly acceptable to all Chriftian hearts. 
Here, at leaft, there is no profane admixture of bor- 
rowed or imitated paganism — no (landing in the old 
Roman Pantheon, with a retention of not a little of 
the form and spirit of the old worfhip, paying vows 
to manifold apotheofized Chriftian saints, as once to 
deceased pagan heroes or mythological divinities — 
but a solemn address and devout prayer to that 
" Creator Spirit," who, in the sublime language of 
Milton, — 

" from the firft 
Was present, and with mighty wings outspread 




VENI CREATOR SPIR1TUS. 



53 



Dove-like sat brooding on the vaft abyss 
And made it pregnant " — 

" the third subfiftence of the divine infinitude, illu- 
minating Spirit, the joy and solace of created things ; " 
" who can enrich with all utterance and knowledge, 
and sends out His Seraphim with the hallowed fire 
of His altar, to touch and purify the lips of whom 
He pleases j " the third person of " the One tri- 
personal Godhead " — 

" that doth prefer, 
Before all temples, th' upright heart and pure," — 

not invoked as a Muse to inspire the poet's song and 
bear him upward on the wings of a swift rapture to 
" the higheft heaven of invention," — but as the 
indispensable Begetter of a new spiritual life in the 
loft soul of man ; the Finger of the mighty power 
of God whose saving and converting touch, reaching 
to the deepeft springs of human thought, feeling, and 
conduct:, uplifts to the serene altitude of "heavenly 
places in Chrift Jesus; " the myftery of an ineffable 
Cause, working effectually " to will and to do " in 
perfect harmony with the utmoft moral freedom of 



54 VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS. 

action and volition ; the supreme Gift, and the infi- 
nite Giver of gifts ; the refident Paraclete, domefti- 
cated in human consciousness ; the Light of a fteady 
illumination, and the Fire of a continual joy ; the 
incredible sweetness of whose comforting and com- 
pensatory presence and perpetual indwelling, accord- 
ing to the marvelous saying of the Divine Lord 
Himself, making it expedient that He mould go away 
in order that there might follow this subftituted and 
surpaffing blefledness to His bereaved and orphaned 
disciples when deprived of His own fight and soci- 
ety ; — the Promise of the Father, Proceeding Spirit, 
manifefted in a miraculous outpouring of baptismal 
fullness on the day of Pentecoft, as a crowning proof 
to all, that He whom the Jews had crucified had 
indeed pafTed into the highefl heaven and been to 
" the right hand of God exalted," thence to dispense 
this immeasurable grace to the children of men, that 
they in turn might celebrate in glad doxologies the 
triune Jehovah, Father, Son, and Holy Ghoft, through- 
out all ages, Amen ! 

Although it is not certainly known that Charle- 
magne is the author, he is commonly so reputed* 



VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS. 



55 



Others think the probabilities are in favor of Gregory 
the Great. They say, the claflic metre with the in- 
termingling rhymes, and the ftyle generally, are Greg- 
ory's. So, too, the claflic scanfion of the fifth line 
making the penult of <c ParaclTtus" long, betrays, it is 
argued, the Grecian which Gregory was, and Char- 
lemagne was not. On the other hand, it is aliened 
that Charlemagne was quite equal to the talk. " His 
eloquence," says his Secretary, " was abundant. He 
was able to express with facility all he wifhed ; and 
not content with his mother tongue, he bellowed 
great pains upon foreign languages. He had taken 
so well to the Latin, that he was able to speak pub- 
licly in that language almoft as eafily as in his own. 
He underftood Greek and ftudied Hebrew." He 
wrote other verses, which are ftill extant : — an epi- 
taph on Adrian I., the Song of Roland, an ode to 
the scholar Warnefride, and an epigram in hexameter 
verse. There exifts a letter addrefled by him to his 
bifhops, entitled De gratia septtformis Spirttus^ mow- 
ing that he took a special intereft in the subjecT: of 
the Hymn. Moieover, the twofold proceffion of 
the Holy Ghoft, affirmed in the fixth ftrophe, and 



5& 



VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS. 



with an emphafis implying that it was confidered an 
important article of belief, was firft confirmed as the 
dodtrine of the Weftern Church by a Synod affem- 
bled under imperial auspices at Aix-la-Chapelle in 
the year 809 ; and this circumftance ftrengthens, it 
is thought, the probability that he was the author. 
Charlemagne, " claimed by the Church as a saint, 
by the French as their greater! king, by the Germans 
as their countryman, by the Italians as their emperor," 
died at Aix-la-Chapelle, we are told, with his crown 
upon his head, and his copy of the Gospels upon his 
knees. 

Befides being used as a Pentecoftal Hymn, it has 
been the cuftom to employ it on great occafions like 
the coronation of kings, the celebration of synods, 
and, in the Romifli Church, the creation of popes, 
&c. It is the only Breviary Hymn retained by the 
Episcopal Church, where a place is affigned it in the 
offices for the ordination of priefts and the consecra- 
tion of bifhops. The Prayer Book contains two 
verfions. Dryden's admirable paraphrase is well 
known. The rendering here given is much more 
close. In German there are several tranflations. 



VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS. 57 

One by Luther begins : Kum Schepher beiliger 
Geift. ' 

The Latin text varies in different editions. Some 
interpolate between the 5th and 6th verses the fol- 
lowing additional one : 

Da gaudiorum praemia, 
Da gratiarum munera, 
Diffolve litis vincula, 
Adftringe pacis foedera. 

The final verse is sometimes given thus : 

Sit laus Patri cum Filio, 
San&o fimul Paraclito, 
Nobisque mittat Filius, 
Charisma San6li Spiritus. 

That the final verse was added afterwards may be 
deduced from the facl: that the quantity of " Para- 
clito " in this differs from that of " Paraclitus " in 
the second verse of the hymn — the penult in the 
one case being fhort and in the other long. The 
Hymn moreover in its present form has, so to speak, 
a double doxology or celebration of the Trinity, 
which increases the probability that it ended origin- 
ally with the fixth verse. 

S 




VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS. 
I. 

ENI, Creator Spiritus, 
Mentes tuorum vifita, 
Imple superna gratia, 
Quae tu creafti pectora. 

Qui Paraclitus diceris 
Donum Dei altiffimi, 
Fons vivus, ignis, charitas, 
Et spiritalis un&io. 

in. 

Tu septiformis munere, 1 
Dextrae Dei tu digitus, 2 
Tu rite promiiTum Patris, 
Sermone ditans guttura. 




VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS. 



I. 

REATOR Spirit, Gueft Divine, 
Come, vifit and inhabit Thine, 
Enter the mind's Moft Holy Place, 
And breafts Thou madeft fill with grace. 

ii. 

Thou who art called the Paraclete, 
Of God Moft High the Gift complete, 
The Living Fount, the Fire, the Love, 
And Holy Un&ion from above. 

in. 

Sevenfold the gifts at Thy command, 
Finger of God's supreme right hand, 
The Promise of the Father, who 
Doft throats enrich with utt'rance new. 




VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS. 



TV, 

Accende lumen senfibus, 
Infunde amorem cordibus, 
Infirma noftri corporis, 
Virtute firmans perpeti. 

v. 

Hoftem repellas longius, 
Pacemque dones protinus : 
Du&ore fic te praevio 
Vitemus omne noxium. 

VI. 

Per te sciamus da Patrem 
Noscamus atque Filium, 
Teque utriusque Spiritum 
Credamus omni tempore. 

VII. 

Deo Patri fit gloria, 
Et Filio, qui a mortuis 
Surrexit, ac Paraclito, 
In saeculorum saecula. 

Carolus Magnus. 



V£NI CREATOR SPIRITUS. 



IV. 

Kindle the senses, light impart, 
Infuse Thy love in every heart, 
Weaken our body's bent to wrong, 
In lafting virtue making ftrong. 

v. 

Drive farther off the hellim foe, 
And conftant peace henceforth beftow. 
May we — Thou, Leader in the way-— 
All evil fhun, nor go aftray. 

VI. 

Grant we may know in verity 
The Father and the Son through Thee ; 
And in all time may Thee believe 
Spirit of Both, and so receive. 

VII. 

Be God the Father glorified, 
And God the Son who for us died 
And rose, and God the Paraclete, 
Ages on ages infinite. 

Charlemagne. (Beginning of IX. Century.) 



62 



VEN1 



CREATOR SPIRITUS. 



1 The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit (Isaiah xi. 2, 3) are: 
r. Wisdom {sapiential ; 2. Underftanding {intelleffus) ; 
3. Counsel (conjitium) ; 4. Fortitude (fortitudo) ; 5. Knowl- 
edge (scientia) ; 6. Piety (pietas) ; 7. Fear of the Lord 
(timor). Whence the verse : — 

Sap. intel. con. for. set. pi. ti. collige dona. 

2 The title here given to the Holy Ghoft — Digitus Dei — 
borrowed from Luke xi. 20, and answering to the Spiritus Dei 
of Matthew xii. 28, is adapted, so it is thought, to suggeft 
other ideas befides the fingle one of power. As the fingers are 
various but have a common origin in the hand, so there are 
diverfities of gifts and operations, but the same Spirit. Not- 
withftanding divmons, there is a root of unity. Jerome finds 
in it moreover a hint of the homooufian union of the Spirit 
with the Father and the Son. " If, therefore," he argues, " the 
Son is the hand and arm of God, and the Holy Ghoft His fin- 
ger, there is one subftance of the Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghoft." It is ftated in Exodus that "the Lord delivered unto 
Moses two tables of ftone written with the finger of God ; " 
and Paul speaks of the Corinthian converts as " epiftles of 
Chrift, written not with ink, but the Spirit of the living God ; 
not in tables of ftone, but in the flefhly tables of the heart," — 
thus furniftiing another illuftration of scriptural usage in as- 
cribing the same fun&ion and work to the finger of God and 
the Spirit of God. 




ALPHABETIC JUDGMENT-HYMN. 

(HYMNUS ALPHABETICUS DE DIE JUDICII.) 

HE venerable Bede, an Englifh monk, 
who lived in the seventh century, makes 
mention of this Alphabetical Hymn, so 
that it muft have been written before 
his time. The author is unknown. Daniel re- 
marks : " It is interefting to compare this piece on 
the Laft Judgment with that moft celebrated one, 
Dies ira, dies illa^ by which in majefty and terror, 
not in holy fimplicity and truthfulness, it is surpaffed." 
Neale, likewise, speaking of this Hymn, says : u It 
manifeftly contains the germ of the Dies Ir<z^ to 
which, however inferior in lyric fervor and effect, it 
scarcely yields in devotion and limple realization of 
the subject." 




HYMNUS DE DIE JUDICTI. 




PPAREBIT repentina Dies Magna 
Domini 

Fur obscura velut no&e improvisos oc- 
cupans, 



B revis totus turn parebit prisci luxus saeculi, 

Totum fimul cum clarebit praeteriffe saeculum. 
C langor tubae per quaternas terrae plagas concinens, 

Vivos una mortuosque Chrifto ciet obviam. 
D e coelefti Judex arce, majeftate fulgidus 

Claris angelorum choris comitatus aderit : 
E rubescet orbis lunae, sol et obscurabitur, 

Stella cadent pallescentes, mundi tremet ambitus j 
F lamma, ignis anteibit jufti vultum Judicis, 

Ccelos, terras et profundi flu£r.us ponti devorans. 
G loriosus in sublimi Rex sedebit solio, 

Angelorum tremebun^a circumftabant agmina, 



JUDGMENT-HYMN. 



S a thief in the night, when none waketh 
to ward, 

Shall be the surprise of that Day of the 
Lord ; 

B rief mall then seem all its pomp and display- 
When the world mall have paffed and its fafhion 
away. 

C langor of trumpet-call, everywhere spread, 

Shall gather to Chrift all the quick and the dead. 
D azzling from heaven the Judge mail descend, — 

Bright choirs of angels His coming attend : 
E 'en as blood mall the moon be, the sun it mall 
fade, 

Stars paling mail fall, and the world be afraid ; 
'IP ore the face of the Judge, lo ! a fire mall sweep 

Devouring the heavens, the land and the deep. 
Glorious the King mall be seated on high, 

While trembling around ftand the hofts of the 
(ky. 

9 




66 HYMNUS DE DIE JUDICII. 

H ujus omnes ad electi colligentur dexteram, 

Pravi pavent a ftniftris hoedi velut foetidi : 
I te, dicit Rex ad dextros, regnum coeli sumite, 

Pater vobis quod paravit ante omne saeculum, 
C aritate qui fraterna me juviftis pauperem, 

Caritatis nunc mercedem reportate divites. 
L aeti dicent : quando, Chrifte, pauperem te vidimus, 

Te, Rex magne, vel egentem miserati juvimus : 
M agnus illis dicet Judex : cum juviftis pauperes, 

Panem, domum, veftem dantes, me juviftis 
humiles. 

N ec tardabit et finiftris loqui juftus Arbiter : 
In Gehennas maledi£H flammas hinc discedite ; 

O bsecrantem me audire despexiftis mendicum, 
Nudo veftem non dediftis, neglexiftis languidum. 

P eccatores dicent : Chrifte, quando te vel pauperem, 
Te, Rex magne, vel infirmum contemnentes 
sprevimus. 

Q uibus contra Judex altus : mendicanti quamdiu 
Opem ferre despexiftis, me spreviftis improbi. 



JUDGMENT-HYMN. 



67 



H is elect on the right fliall be gathered, the while 
On His left fhall be placed the wicked and vile ; 
M I nherit the kingdom " — fliall the King say to 
those — [was ; 

" The Father prepared for you ere the world 
" K indly, Me poor, ye did succor in love, 

" Love's guerdon receive now, ye rich, from 
above." 

w L ord," they fliall say, " when did we e'er see 
" Thee poor, and in want gave succor to 
Thee?" 

"Me" — fliall He say — " ye did succor, 't was I 
" When ye cared for the poor, fliared the timely 
supply." 

N ext, over the left, in loud thunders fliall burft : 
" To the flames of Gehenna depart ye accurft : 
"On Me needy ye looked and turned a deaf ear, 
cc When naked Me clothed not, when fick 
came not near." 
" P ray tell us, Great King, when, poor or forlorn, 
" Did we ever contemn Thee or treat Thee 
with scorn ? " 
Q ueftioned, the Judge fliall then answer : "Know ye 
" What time ye the needy despised ye did Me." 



68 HYMNUS DE DIE JUDICII. 

Retro ruent turn injufti ignes in perpetuos, 

Vermis quorum non morietur, flamma nec reftin- 
guitur, 

S atari atro cum miniftris quo tenetur carcere, 

Fletus ubi mugitusque, ftrident omnes dentibus. 
T unc fideles ad cceleftem suftollentur patriam, 

Choros inter angelorum regni petent gaudia, 
TJ rbis summae Hirusalem introibunt gloriam 

Vera lucis atque pacis in qua fulget vifio. 
X PM regem jam paterna claritate splendidum 

Ubi celsa beatorum contemplantur agmina — - 
Y dri fraudes ergo cave, infirmantes subleva, 

Aurum temne, fuge luxus fi vis aftra petere, 
Z ona clara caftitatis lumbos nunc praecingere, 

In occursum Magni Regis fer ardentes lampades. 



JUDGMENT-HYMN. 



6 9 



B, ufh fhall the wicked then, plunged in the fire 
Where the worm fhall not die nor the flame 
fhall expire. 

Satan in chains fhall there hold them beneath, 
Where are weeping and wailing and gnafhing of 
teeth. 

T hen the faithful, upborne to the heavenly land, 
Shall partake of the joys at Jehovah's right hand ; 

XJ fhered fhall be in that Salem above 

Where fhines the true vifion of light, peace, and 
love ; 

'Xalted as King, in divinity dreft, 

There Chrift fhall be viewed by the hofts of the 
bleft. 

Y ou the Serpent's wiles fhun, you the weak ones 
suftain, 

Scorn gold, flee excess, would you the ftars gain. 
Z one of chaftity bright be your girdle, forth bring 
Your lamps trimmed and burning to meet the 
Great King. 

Unknown Author. 
(VII. Century, or earlier.) 



ON CONTEMPT OF THE WORLD. 

(CARMEN JACOPONI DE CONTEMPTU MUNDI.) 

HIS Hymn was firft printed in Paris, 
1496. It has been ascribed to various 
persons, among the reft to St. Bernard ; 
also to Walter Mapes, Archdeacon of 
Oxford, England, who lived in the twelfth or thir- 
teenth century. But Wadding, in his " Annals of 
the Minorites," points to Jacopone as the true au- 
thor of this as well as of the Stabat Mater; and 
this now would seem to be the received opinion. 
Du Meril collates the third and fourth verses with 
the following lines taken from another part of the 
same poem as 44 The Better Country," — Bernard's 
" De Contemptu Mundi." The reader will readily 
recognize the rhyming hexameter with which he was 
made familiar in the former extract : 




ON CONTEMPT OF THE WORLD. 71 

" Eft ubi gloria nunc, Babylonia ? sunt ubi durus 
Nabuchodonozor et Darii vigor, illeque Cyrus ? 
Nunc ubi curia pompaque Iulia ? Caesar obifti ; 
Te truculentior, orbe potentior ipse fuifti. 
Nunc ubi Marius atque Fabricius inscius auri ? 
Mors ubi nobilis et memorabilis aclio Pori ? 
Diva philippica, vox ubi ccelica nunc Ciceronis ? 
Pax ubi civibus atque rebellibus ira Catonis ? 
Nunc ubi Regulus, aut ubi Romulus, aut ubi Remus? 
Stat rosa priftina nomine, nomina nuda tenemus." 

Here is more in the same vein, occurring in a 
hymn " On Death," of an uncertain date and by an 
unknown author: 

" Ubi Plato, ubi Porphyrius ; 
Ubi Tullius aut Virgilius ; 
Ubi Thales, ubi Empedocles, 
Aut egregius Ariftoteles ; 
Alexander ubi rex maximus ; 
Ubi He&or Troiae fortiffimus ; 
Ubi David rex do&immus, 
Ubi Salomon prudentiflimus } 
Ubi Helena Parisque roseus ; 
Ceciderunt in profundum ut lapides : 
Quis scit, an detur eis requies." 



DE CONTEMPTU MUNDI. 



I. 

UR mundus militat sub vana gloria, 
Cujus prosperitas eft tranfitoria ? 
Tarn cito labitur ejus potentia, 
Quam vasa figuli, quae sunt fragilia. 

II. 

Plus crede Uteris scriptis in glacie, 
Quam mundi fragilis vanae fallaciae ! 
Fallax in praemiis virtutis specie, 
Quae nunquam habuit tempus fiduciae. 

in. 

Die, ubi Salomon, olim tarn nobilis, 
Vel ubi Sampson eft, dux invincibilis ? 




ON CONTEMPT OF THE WORLD. 



;HY toileth the world in the service of 
glory, 

Whose triumphs are brief, though the 
proudeft in ftory ? 
Its power is, though high as the heart ever flattered, 
Like the vase of the potter, that quickly is fhattered. 



ii. 

Truft a pledge writ in ice when winter is leaving — 
Than the world's fair falsehoods less vain and 
deceiving ! 

Moft false in its promise of virtue's rewarding, 
The time of redemption it never regarding. 



in. 

O say, where is Solomon, aforetime so glorious ? 
Or where now is Sampson, a leader victorious ? 



DE CONTEMPTU MUNDI. 



Vel pulcher Absalom, vultu mirabilis, 
Vel dulcis Jonathas, multum amabilis ? 

IV. 

Quo Caesar abiit, celsus imperio ? 

Vel Xerxes splendidus, totus in prandio ? 

Die ubi Tullius, clarus eloquio ? 

Vel Ariftoteles, summus ingerrio ? 

v. 

Tot clari proceres, tot rerum spatia, 
Tot ora praesulum, tot regna fortia, 
Tot mundi principes, tanta potentia, 
In ictu oculi clauduntur omnia. 

VI. 

Quam breve feftum eft haec mundi gloria ! 
Ut umbra hominis, iic ejus gaudia, 
Qu2r semper subtrahunt aeterna praemia, 
Et ducunt hominem ad dura devia. 



ON CONTEMPT OF THE WORLD. 



75 



Or beautiful Absalom, of wondrous appearing ? 
Or Jonathan sweet, exceeding endearing ? 

IV. 

Where 's Caesar gone now, in command high and 
able ? 

Or Xerxes the splendid, complete in his table ? 
Or Tully, with powers of eloquence ample ? 
Or Aristotle, of genius the higheft example ? 

v. 

So many great nobles, things, adminiftrations, 
So many high chieftains, so many brave nations, 
So many proud princes, and power so splendid, 
In a moment, a twinkling, all utterly ended. 

VI. 

Earth's glory how vain, a brief banquet its meas- 
ure ! 

As is a man's fhadow even so is its pleasure, 
Which forever of endless rewards makes deduction, 
And leads in the hard devious paths of deftruction. 



DE CONTEMPTU MUNDI. 
VII. 

O esca vermium, O mafia pulveris, 
O ros, O vanitas, cur fic extolleris ? 
Ignoras penitus, utrum eras vixeris ; 
Benefac omnibus, quamdiu poteris ! 

VIII. 

Ha?c mundi gloria, quae magni penditur, 
Sacris in Uteris flos foeni dicitur ; 
O leve folium, quod vento rapitur ! 
Sic vita hominis hac via tollitur. 

IX. 

Nil tuum dixeris, quod potes perdere ! 
Quod mundus tribuit, intendit rapere. 
Superna cogita ! cor fit in aethere ! 
Felix, qui potuit mundum contemnere ! 

Jacobus de Benedictis. 



ON CONTEMPT OF THE WORLD. 



77 



VII. 

O food for the worms, O mass of duft drifted, 
O dew, O vanity, why so uplifted ? 
Thou know'ft not at all, if thou 'It live till to- 
morrow ; 

Do good while thou canft to the children of sorrow ! 

VIII. 

This glory of earth, which is much eftimated, 
As the flower of grass is in Holy Writ rated : 
O leaf light and frail, by the wind snatched and 
harried ! 

Ev'n so human life is away from earth carried. 

IX. 

Call nought then thine own which is loft ere one 
knoweth ! 

Earth meaneth to take the good it beftoweth : 
On supernal joys think ! let thy heart be in heaven ! 
Contemn thou the world, and beware of its leaven ! 

Jacopone. (XIII. Century.) 



WORKS 

OF 

ABRAHAM COLES, 

REVIEWED BY 

EMINENT CRITICS. 



WORKS OF ABRAHAM COLES, M.D. LL.D. 



LATIN HYMNS, in Four Parts, viz.: 

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CRITICS AND CRITICISMS. 



Richard Grant White (1821-1885), in "The Albion": 

"We commend the volume, 'Dies Irae, in Thirteen Original Ver- 
sions,' as one of great interest; and an admirable tribute from 
American scholarship and poetic taste to the supreme nobility of the 
original poem. Dr. Coles has shown a fine appreciation of the 
spirit and rhythmic movement of the Hymn, as well as unusual 
command of language and rhyme; and we much doubt whether any 
translation of the ' Dies Iras,' better than the first of the thirteen, will 
ever be produced in English, except perhaps by himself. ... As to 
the translation of the Hymn, it is perhaps the most difficult task 
that could be undertaken. To render ' Faust ' or the 4 Songs of 
Egmont ' into fitting English numbers, would be easy in com- 
parison." 

The Rev. Samuel Irenaeus Prime, D. 0.(1812-1885), * n 

the "New York Observer": 

"The book is a gem both typographically and intrinsically; beau- 
tifully printed at the ' Riverside Press,' in the loveliest antique type, 
on tinted paper, with liberal margins, embellished with exquisite 
photographs of the great masterpieces of Christian Art, and withal 
elegantly and solidly bound in Matthew's best style, a gentleman- 
like book, suggestive of Christmas and the centre-table; and its 
contents worthy of their dainty envelope, amply entitling it as well 
to a place on the shelves of the scholar The first two of the 



thirteen versions of the ' Dies Irse' appeared in the 1 Newark Daily 
Advertiser' as long ago as 1847. They were extensively copied by 
the press, and warmly commended — particularly by the Rev. Drs. 
James W. Alexander and W. R. Williams, scholars whose critical 
acumen and literary ability are universally recognized — as being 
the best of the English versions in double rhyme; and examples of 
singular success in a difficult undertaking, in which many, and of 
eminent name, had been competitors. The eleven other versions 
are worthy companions of those which have received such eminent 
endorsement. Indeed, we are not sure but that the last, which is 
in the same measure as Crashaw's, but in our judgment far superior, 
will please the general taste most of all." 

William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878), in the New York 
"Evening Post": 

" There are few versions of the Hymn which will bear to be 
compared with these; we are surprised that they are all so well 
done." 

James Russell Lowell (1819-1891), in "The Atlantic 
Monthly": 

" Dr. Coles has made, we think, the most successful attempt at 

an English translation of the Hymn that we have ever seen 

He has done so well that we hope he will try his hand on some of 
the other Latin Hymns. By rendering them in their own metres, 
and with so large a transfusion of their spirit as characterizes his 
present attempt, he will be doing a real service to the lovers of 
that kind of religious poetry in which neither the religion nor 
the poetry is left out. He has shown that he knows the worth 
of faithfulness." 



Christian (Quarterly) Review :" 

"Of Dr. Coles' remarkable success as respects these particulars 
(namely, faithfulness and variety), no one competent to judge can 
doubt. . . . For all that enters into a good translation, fidelity to 
the sense of the original, uniform conformity to its tenses, preser- 
vation of its metrical form without awkwardly inverting, inele- 
gantly abbreviating, or violently straining the sense of the words, 
and the reproduction of its vital spirit — for all these qualities Dr. 
Coles' first translation stands, we believe, not only unsurpassed, 
but unequalled in the English language." 

"The Boston Transcript" says: 

"The 1 Dies Irae' is by far the most interesting hymn to Protestants 
and poets, of all that our fathers used to sing or hear in a strange 
tongue ' not understanded of the people;' and so thoroughly has the 
translator (Dr. Coles) entered the circle of the old song's heat and 
strength that he has been carried through it again and again, and 
here are more than a dozen versions of the same Latin words, and 
an historical criticism in a strong, earnest and poetical style akin 
to that of the hymn itself." 

Lady Jane Franklin, wife of Sir John Franklin, when 

in this country, met Dr. Coles at the residence of a 

mutual friend; similarity of tastes, and the interest 

taken by Dr. Coles in the search for her husband, 

ripened the acquaintanceship into that of friendship. 

From her letter written from New York, October 22d, 

i860, we quote the following : 

"Dr. Abraham Coles: 

" Dear Sir — I cannot deny myself the pleasure of thanking you 



once more for your most beautiful little book, ' The Dies Irae, in 
Thirteen Original Versions,' which I value not only for its intrinsic 
merit, but as an expression of your very kind feelings towards me. 
Believe me, gratefully and truly yours." 

William C. Prime, in the "Journal of Commerce": 

"Dr. A. Coles has long been known to the literary world as 
specially successful in the translation of Latin Hymns. His render- 
ings of the ' Dies Irae' are familiar to many readers. He has now 
also prepared a book entitled 'Old Gems in New Settings,' an exquisite 
volume, in which we find the ' De Contemptu Mundi,' the 'Veni 
Sancte Spiritus, and other fine old favorites skillfully and grace- 
fully translated. The grand hymn or poem of Bernard de Clugny, 
of which the extracts in this book are styled ' Urbs Ccelestis Syon,' 
is rendered in a style very nearly resembling the original, and 
| gives the reader, who does not understand Latin, an excellent idea 
of the peculiar characteristics of the hymn of Bernard. Besides 
these, we have the ' Stabat Mater,' with a complete history of the 
noble hymn, and a very fine translation. The lovers of old hymns 
owe a special debt of gratitude to Dr. Coles for the good taste and 
the thorough appreciation and ability which he brings to the work 
of placing these glorious old songs within reach of the modern 
world. We could wish them to become favorites in every family, 
and they will so become in spite of their Latin origin." 

The Rev. Philip S chaff, D. D., LL. D., in "Hours at 
Home": 

"There are about eighty German translations of the 'Stabat 
Mater' and several English translations. But very few of the latter 
strictly preserve the original metre. The English double rhyme 
rarely expresses the melody and pathos of the Latin. Dr. Abraham 



Coles, the well-known author of fourteen translations of ' Dies Ira?,' 
has probably best succeeded in a faithful rendering of the ' Mater 
Dolorosa.' * * * The admirable English version of the ' Mater 
Dolorosa,' which carefully preserves the measure of the original, 
is from Dr. Coles, who kindly granted us permission to use it." 

"The Republican," Springfield, Mass.: 

"Dr. Abraham Coles won fame, and sure fame, by the most 
poetic and truthful translations ever given of that great mediaeval 
hymn, the 'Dies Irae.'" 

George Ripley (1802-1880), in the "New York Tribune": 

" United with a rare command of language and facility of versi- 
fication, this is the secret of the eminent success with which the 
translator has reproduced the solemn litany of the Middle Ages in 
such a variety of forms. If not all of equal excellence, it is hard to 
decide as to their respective merits, so admirably do they embody 
the tone and sentiment of the original in vigorous and impressive 
verse. The essays which precede and follow the Hymn, exhibit the 
learning and the taste of the translator in a most favorable light, 
and show that an antiquary and a poet have not been lost in the 
study of science and the practice of a laborious profession. In 
addition to the thirteen versions of ' Dies Iras,' the volume contains 
translations of the ' Stabat Mater,' ' Urbs Coelestis Syon,' 'Veni 
Creator Spiritus,' and other choice mediaeval hymns which have 
been executed with equal unction and felicity. 

'■ We have also a poem by the same author, entitled 4 The Micro- 
cosm,' read before the Medical Society of New Jersey at its centenary 
anniversary. It is an ingenious attempt to present the principles 
of the animal economy in a philosophical poem, somewhat after 
the manner of Lucretius, and combining scientific analysis with 



religious sentiment. In ordinary hands, we should not regard this 
as a happy, nor a safe experiment, but the dexterity with which it 
has been managed by Dr. Coles, illustrates his versatile talent as 
well as the originality of his conceptions. 

The Rev. James McCosh, D. D., LL. D., President 

of the College of New Jersey, in a letter to Dr. Coles : 

"Princeton, N. J. 
"I have read with the liveliest delight your translations of the 
" Latin Hymns.' I wonder how you could have drawn out thirteen 
of the ' Dies Irae,' all in the spirit and manner of the original, and 
yet so different. I thought each the best as I read it. * * * * 
I have read enough of ' The Microcosm' to see that it is thoroughly 
scientific." 

Richard Stockton Field, LL. D., (1803-1870), in 1838 
Attorney General of New Jersey; in 1862 United States 
Senator; in 1863 appointed by President Lincoln United 
States District Judge for the District of New Jersey; at 
the time of his death President of the New Jersey His- 
torical Society: 

" Princeton, N. J. 

"'Dr. Abraham Coles: 

"My Dear Sir — With the original 'Dies Irse' and ' Stabat 
Mater' I have long been familiar. They have always had a pecul- 
iar charm, I may say fascination, about them, and I have loved to 
repeat them. And now I have no hesitation in saying that they 
never have been, and I doubt if they ever will be, as well translated 
into English verse as they are in your volume. 

"Knowing the difficulty of the task, seeing how others have 



failed, I am indeed astonished at your success. With the strictest 
fidelity, your translations have all the tenderness, pathos and 
rhythm of the beautiful and touching originals. I speak more 
particularly of the first of the ' Dies Irse' and of the ' Stabat Mater.' 
The two first stanzas of the latter are perfect. 

"Your 'Microcosm,' too, is a noble poem. It has many strik- 
ingly beautiful passages. It evinces science and culture, and poet- 
ical talent of high order. You display great command of language, 
and great facility of versification. Your prose also is easy and 
graceful. I am glad of the opportunity afforded me of rendering 
this feeble tribute to their merits. Very truly yours." 

The " Newark Daily Advertiser :" 

"Dr. Coles has supplied a want and done a graceful work in 
"The Microcosm." What the flower or babbling stream is to Words- 
worth, that is the stranger, more complex, and more beautiful human 
frame to our author. In its organs, its powers, its aspirations, and 
its passions, he finds ample theme for song. . . Everywhere the 
rhythm is flowing and easy, and no scholarly man can peruse the 
work without a glance of wonder at the varied erudition, classical, 
poetical, and learned, that crowds its pages, and over-flows in foot- 
notes. And through the whole is a devout religious tone and a 
purity of purpose worthy of all praise." 

Edmund C. Stedman: 

" Dr. Coles' researches, made so lovingly and conscientiously in 
his special field of poetical scholarship, have given him a distinct 
and most enviable position among American authors. We of the 
younger sort learn a lesson of reverent humility from the pure 
enthusiasm with which he approaches and handles his noble themes. 
The ' tone ' of all his works is perfect. He is so thoroughly in sym- 
pathy with his subjects that the lay reader instantly shares his 



feeling; and there is a kind of 'white light' pervading the whole — 
prose and verse — which at any time tranquilizes and purifies the 
mind." 

The Rev. Robert Turnbull, D. D.: 

"I have finished the reading of ' The Microcosm,' which has 
afforded me unmingled delight. It is really a remarkable poem, 
and has passages of great beauty and power. It cannot fail to 
secure the admiration of all capable of appreciating it. Its ease, 
its exquisite finish, its vivid yet delicate and powerful imagery, and 
above all its sublime religious interest, entitle it to a very high place 
in our literature." 

John G. Whittier: 

" Dr. Abraham Coles is a born hymn writer. No man living or 
dead has so rendered the text and the spirit of the old and wonder- 
ful Latin Hymns. * * * His 'All the Days' and his 'Ever With 
Thee' are immortal songs. It is better to have written them than 
the stateliest of epics. * * * The idea of 'The Microcosm' is 
novel and daring, but it is worked out with great skill and deli- 
cacy. * * * 'The Evangel' is a work of piety and beauty. The 
Proem opens with strong, vigorous yet melodious verse. I see no 
reason why the Divine Story may not be fitly told in poetry." 

Rev. S. I. Prime, D. D., in "The New York Observer": 

" 'The Evangel in Verse,' is the ripest fruit of the scholarship, 
taste and poetic talent of one of our accomplished students of Eng- 
lish verse, whose translations of 'Dies Irse' and other poems have 
made the name of Dr. Coles familiar in the literature of our day. 
In the work before us he has attempted something higher and 
better than any former essay of his skillful pen. He has rendered 



the Gospel story of our Lord and Saviour into verse, with copious 
notes, giving the largest amount of knowledge from critical 
authorities to justify and explain the readings and to illuminate the 
sacred narrative. . . . He excludes everything fictitious, and clings 
to the orthodox view of the character and mission of the God-man. 
The illustrations are a complete pictorial anthology. Thus the 
poet, critic, commentator and artist has made a volume that will 
take its place among the rare productions of the age, as an illustra- 
tion of the genius, taste, and fertile scholarship of the author." 

George Ripley, in the " New York Tribune " : 

" The purpose of this volume, 'The Evangel,' would be usually 
regarded as beyond the scope of poetic composition. It aims to re- 
produce the scenes of the Gospel History in verse, with a strict ad- 
herence to the sacred narrative and no greater degree of imaginative 
coloring than would serve to present the facts in the most brilliant 
and impressive light. But the subject is one with which the author 
cherishes so profound a sympathy, as in some sense to justify the 
boldness of the attempt. The Oriental cast of his mind allures him 
to the haunts of sacred song, and produces a vital communion with 
the spirit of Hebrew poetry. Had he lived in the days of Isaiah or 
Jeremiah, he might have been one of the bards who sought inspira- 
tion 'at Siloa's brook that flowed fast by the oracle of God.' The 
present work is not the first fruits of his religious Muse, but he is 
already known to the lovers of mediaeval literature by his admir- 
able translations of the ' Dies Irae.' . . . The volume is brought out 
in a style of unusual elegance, as it respects the essential requisites 
of paper, print and binding, while the copious illustrations will at- 
tract notice by their selection of the most celebrated works of the 
best masters." 



The Rev. James McCosh, D. D., LL. D., upon the 

publication of " The Evangel : " 

" College of New Jersey, 

"Princeton, N. J. 
" You are giving to the world further proof that we did ourselves 
honor in conferring upon you some years ago the honorary degree 
of LL. D. * * * * I spent several hours last Sabbath in read- 
ing your poem, and relished it very much." 

Daniel Haines (1801-1877), in 1843 elected Governor 
of New Jersey, and re-elected in 1847; Judge of the 
Supreme Court; one of the committee on the reunion 
of the two branches of the Presbyterian Church : 

" Hamburg, N. J. 

" My Dear Sir — I can scarcely find fitting words in which to 
express my sincere thanks for your kind remembrance of me in the 
presentation of the beautiful copy of your recent work, ' The 
Evangel in Verse.' From the introduction, the proem and a few 
chapters, I judge it to be a work of rare excellence. The metrical 
composition is pleasant to the ear and eye, and is remarkable for its 
literal meaning. To me the greater charm is its clear and forcible 
expressions of evangelical truth and sound Christian doctrine. 

" It is the most succinct and complete refutation of the doctrine 
of Darwin and Huxley that I have seen. 

"The Christian most owes you a debt of gratitude for your 
labor and research, and heartfelt thanks to God for giving you the 
ability to produce a book so full of instruction, and affording so 
much gratification to the cultivated mind." 

The Rev. George Dana Boardman, D. D.: 

" ' The Evangel in Verse ' is a feast to the eye and ear and heart. 



The careful exegesis, the conscientious loyalty to the statements of 
the Holy Story, the sympathetic reproduction of a remote and 
Oriental past, the sacred insight into the meaning of the Peerless 
Career, the homageful yet manly, unsuperstitious reverence, the 
rhythm as melodious as stately, the frequent notes, opulent in learn- 
ing and doctrine and devotion, the illustrations deftly culled from 
whatever is choice in ancient and modern art, these are some of 
the many excellencies which give to 'The Evangel in Verse' an im- 
mortal beauty and worth, adding it as another coronet for Him on 
whose brow are many diadems." 

The Rev. Charles Hodge, D. D., LL. D. (1797-1878): 

" I admire the skill which 'The Evangel' displays in investing 
with rainbow hues the simple narrations of the Gospels. All, how- 
ever, who have read Dr. Coles' versions of the ' Dies Irse ' and other 
Latin Hymns must be prepared to receive any new productions 
from his pen with high expectations. In these days when even the 
clerical office seems in many cases insufficient to protect from the 
present fashionable form of scepticism, it is a great satisfaction to 
see a man of science and a scholar adhering so faithfully to the 
simple Gospel." 

The Hon. Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen : 

" United States Senate Chamber, 

"Washington, D. C. 
"My Dear Doctor — Many thanks to you for having written 
'The Evangel.' It is admirably conceived and executed. While 
the poem impresses the truth, it will lure many who would have 
remained uninformed to the valuable instruction contained in the 
Notes. The notes on Darwin, The Logos, Herod, and the miracle 
at Ajalon, are excellent. The poem brings out many scriptural 



truths, which are not on the surface. Let me say, it is a great thing 
to have written the book — to have your labor associated with sal- 
vation." 

The Rev. Robert Lowell, D.D., in the "Church Monthly": 

" Dr Coles is plainly a man of a very religious heart and a deeply 
reverential mind. . . . Moreover he has so much learning in his 
favorite subject, and so much critical instinct and experience, that 
those who can relish honest thinking, and tender and most skillful 
and true deductions, accept his teaching and suggestion with a ready 
— sometimes surprised — sympathy and confidence. Add to all this, 
that he has the sure taste of a poet, and the warm and loving earn- 
estness of a true believer in the redeeming Son of God, and the 
catholic spirit of one who knows with mind and heart that Christian- 
ity at its beginning was Christianity, and we have the man who can 
write such books as earnest Christian people will welcome and be 
thankful for. . . . In this new book he proposes 1 that * The Evangel' 
shall be a poetic version, and verse by verse paraphrase, so far as it 
goes, of the Four Gospels, anciently and properly regarded as one.' 
He makes an exquisite plea, in his preface, for giving leave to the 
glad words to rejoice at the Lord's coming in the Flesh, for which all 

other beings and things show their happiness In the notes 

the reader will find (if he have skill for such things) a treasure-house, 
in which everything is worthy of its place. Where he has offered 
new interpretations, or set forth at large interpretations not gener- 
ally received or familiar, he modestly asks only to have place given 
him, and gives every one free leave to differ. Everywhere there is 
the largest and 'most true-hearted charily. . . . The reader cannot 
open anywhere without finding in these notes, if he be not wiser or 
more learned than ourselves, a great deal that he never saw, or 
never saw so well set forth before." 



Stephen Alexander, LL. D., Professor of Mechanics 
and Astronomy in the College of New Jersey: 

"Princeton, N. J. 

"Abraham Coles, M. D., LL. D.: 

" My Dear Sir — 1 have delayed the acknowledgement of the 
receipt of your beautiful 4 Evangel' until I could make some return 
after the same fashion. Please accept my sincere thanks, as well 
as my congratulations on your great success. I am always inter- 
ested in your books, and always learn something from them. 

"With this I send a copy of my 4 Statement and Exposition of 
Certain Harmonies of the Solar System,' which I hope may reach 
you safely. Please accept the same, with my respects and regards. 
I think the Notes at the end and the supplement may especially 
interest you." 

Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes : 

"There is a kind of straightforward simplicity about the poetical 
paraphrases which reminds one of the homelier but still always inter- 
esting verses which John Bunyon sprinkles like drops of heavenly 
dew along the pages of the Pilgrim's Progress. The illustrations 
add much to the work, in the way of ornament, and aid to the imag- 
ination. One among them is of terrible power, as it seems to me, 
such as it would be hard to show the equal of in the work of any 
modern artist. I mean Holman Hunt's ' Scapegoat.' There is a 
whole Theology in that picture. It haunts me with its fearful sug- 
gestiveness like a nightmare. I find 'The Evangel' an impressive 
and charming book. It does not provoke criticism — it is too devout, 
too sincere, too thoroughly conscientious in its elaboration to allow 
of fault-finding or fault-hunting." 

William Cullen Bryant : 

" I have read ' The Evangel' with pleasure and satisfaction. The 



versification of the Lord's Prayer is both an expansion of the sense 
and a commentary. The thought has often occurred to me what a 
world of meaning is there wrapped up, and that meaning is admira- 
bly brought out." 

Henry Woodhull Green, LL. D., (1802-1876), Chief 
Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey from 1846 
till i860, when he became Chancellor : 

" Trenton, N. J. 

"Abraham Coles, LL. D., Newark, N. J.: 

" My Dear Sir — I have read as much of ' The Evangel ' during 
the month since I received it as my leisure and the state of my 
health have permitted. Of its literary merits, I do not feel myself 
qualified to judge, but its perusal has given me great pleasure. I 
have been particularly impressed with the fidelity with which you 
have adhered to the sacred narrative, unmarred by the decorations 
of heathen mythology or papal fable. I regard that as no ordinary 
merit. I can well understand the strong temptation under which a 
man of high classic culture must, in a work of this kind, constantly 
labor, to turn from the stern simplicity of the sacred narrative to 
seek embellishment amid the flowers of classic fiction. To have 
resisted successfully such temptation, I regard as a very high merit; 
and I congratulate you on the production of a work, which, I cannot 
doubt, will redound to your own honor and the honor of our State. 
With high regard, I am, very respectfully yours." 

Charles H. Spurgeon, writing from Westwoocl, Beulah 
Hill, Upper Norwood, speaks of " The Evangel" as "a 
grand volume," and concludes his affectionate letter 
with the words : 

"Peace be to you, and every blessing. May Scotch Plains be a 



spot wherein Jesus dwells with a happy household. Yours very 
heartily." 

The Hon. William Earl Dodge, (1805-1883), merchant 
and philanthropist, in a letter, written from his resi- 
dence in New York City, to Dr. Coles : 

"Mrs. Dodge, and myself have very much enjoyed 'The Evan- 
gel,' having carefully read it. Such perfect conformity to the text 
and spirit of the sacred narrative, so beautifully transferred to 
verse, we have seldom found." 

Thomas Gordon Hake, M. D., author of "Madeline, 
and Other Poems and Parables": 

" 12 Portland place, 
"West Kensington, W., London. 
"I have read 'The Evangel,' and 'The Light of the World,' 
with deep interest, and with assurance that the learning and intelli- 
gence displayed in executing so difficult a work will secure it a 
lasting place in our joint national literature." 

The "New York Observer": 

"The skill of Dr. Coles as an artistic poet, his reverent, religious 
spirit, and the exalted flight of his muse in the regions of holy medi- 
tation are familiar to our readers. It is, therefore, superfluous for 
us to do more than announce a new and elegant volume from his 
pen — ' The Microcosm and Other Poems.' It is rich in its contents. 
'The Microcosm' is an essay in verse on the science of the human 
Body; it is literally the science of physiology condensed into 1,400 
lines. The many occasional poems that follow are the efflorescence 
of a mind sensitive to the beautiful and rejoicing in the true; find- 



ing God in everything, and delighting to trace the revelation of His 
love in all the works of His hand. Such a volume is not to be 
looked at for a moment and then laid aside. Like the great epics, 
it is a book for all time, and will lose none of its interest and value 
by the lapse of years. The publishers have given it a splendid dress, 
and the illustrations add greatly to the attractions of this truly ele- 
gant book." 

The "New York Times": 

" The flavor of the book, 'The Microcosm and Other Poems,' is 
most quaint, suggesting, on the religious side, George Herbert, and 
on the naturalistic side, the elder Darwin, who, in ' The Botanic 
Garden,' laid the seed of the revolution in science, accomplished by 
the patient genius of his grandson. Some of the hymns for children 
are beautiful in their simplicity and truth." 

"The Critic": 

" The long poem, ' The Microcosm,' which gives its name to the 
present collection, has many beautiful and stately passages. Among 
the shorter pieces following it, is to be found some of the best devo- 
tional and patriotic poetry that has been written in this country." 

John Y. Foster, author and editor, in "Frank Les- 
lie's Illustrated Newspaper": 

" In this exquisite and brilliantly illustrated volume, the scholarly 
author has gathered up various children of his pen and grouped 
them in family unity. ' The Microcosm,' which forms one-fifth of the 
volume of 350 pages, is an attempt to present, in poetical form, a 
compendium of the science of the human body. In originality of 
conception and felicity of expression, it has not been approached by 
any work of our best modern poets. The other poems are all 
marked by the highest poetic taste, having passages of great beauty 
and power." 



Hon. Justin McCarthy : 

"20 Cheyne Garden, Chelsea, London, England. 
"Dear Dr. Coles — I am surprised to see, in looking through 
your volume, 'The Microcosm and Other Poems,' that you have been 
able to add three more versions to those you have already made of 
that wonderful Latin hymn, perhaps the greatest of all, ' Dies Irse.' 
Certainly it is one of the most difficult to translate. I like your last 
version especially." 

The ''Examiner and Chronicle": 

"The title-poem in this exquisitely printed and charmingly illus- 
trated volume, ' The Microcosm and Other Poems,' has been for some 
time before the public, and has received generous commendation 
for the tact and skill evinced in handling a very unpromising theme. 
A poetic description, minute and thorough going of the human body 
was a serious undertaking; but Dr. Coles delights in what is diffi- 
cult and hazardous. He had already associated his name forever 
with the mediaeval Latin hymn, ' Dies Ira^,' by publishing no less than 
thirteen distinct versions of it. In the volume before us he gives 
us three more versions. The other poems will not detract from the 
author's previous reputation." 

Hon. Horace N. Congar, lawyer, editor, United States 
Consul at Hong Kong, China, under President Lincoln; 
and Consul at Prague, Bohemia, under President Grant: 

" United States Consulate, 

"Prague, Bohemia. 
"There is one thing, my dear Doctor, about your publications 
which no one can deny. You print your own poetical thoughts and 
conceptions. They are not copies of some other writer, but stand 



out clear and distinct with your own diction and strength; written 
for the scholarly and intelligent, they preserve true simplicity with 
the real grandeur of their conception." 

The Rev. William Hague, D. D. (1808-1887), in "Life 
Notes; or Fifty Years' Outlook": 

"The (Newark) 'Advertiser' yet lives and thrives, winning to 
its service the contributions of scholarly writers, among whom we 
have noticed, occasionally, the veteran physician and poet, Dr. 
Abraham Coles, author of 'The Evangel' with its immense wealth 
of critical scholasticism; and the tasteful and rhythmic translator of 
Latin poetry that enriches our libraries, for instance, in the artistic- 
ally wrought edition of the ' Dies Irae.'" 

The "Newark Daily Advertiser": 

" ' The Microcosm' is the only book of the kind in the language, 
and is well deserving of a place in every library, and might, we 
think, moreover, be introduced with advantage into all schools where 
physiology is taught as an adjunct, if nothing else, to stimulate inter- 
est, and relieve the dryness of ordinary text books. In lines of 
flowing and easy verse, the author sets forth with a completeness 
certainly remarkable, and with great power and beauty the incom- 
parable marvels of structure and function of the human body. 

" This poetic mastery, making ductile the most unpromising ma- 
terials, has had its latest and supreme exemplification in the com- 
pletion of the unique work, ' The Life and Teachings of Our Lord, 
in Verse.' ' The Evangel,' forming the first part, appeared in 1874, 
'The Light of the World,' forming the second part and completing 
the work, is now, 1884, first published. * * * 

" By common consent the story of the life of Jesus, as told by 
the four evangelists, is the unmatched masterpiece of literature. 



Its literary interest is hardly inferior to its religious. It is pre-emi 
nently classic. The most fervid encomiums have come from infidels 
and the great literary artists of the world. To taboo it, therefore, 
as something outside of literature, betrays ignorance and imbecility. 
Mr. Edwin Arnold has duly celebrated in his poem, ' The Light of 
Asia,' the Buddhist hero, Prince Siddartha, and has had, it would 
seem, readers among all classes. The life and teachings of Him 
who is 'The Light of the World,' and whose fame fills the ages, 
are surely not less worthy of regard and study by the cultiva- 
tors of literature. The author has striven, it would seem, to make 
his book a veritable cyclopaedia of religious knowledge, so compre- 
hensive is its scope. It ranges through the Old Testament and the 
New. An episode in the first part, outlines nearly the whole his- 
tory of the Jewish people. The poetical proem and the note ap- 
pended thereto are in effective antagonism to Darwinism and cur- 
rent evolution theories. An elaborate note on ' The Logos ' gives 
an historical summary of the prevailing creeds and christologies 
from the earliest times. 

" It is not too much to say that it is a book deserving of a place 
beside the New Testament in every household, and cannot fail to 
be found a valuable help to every reader and student of the sacred 
Scriptures." 

The Rev. George Dana Boardman, D.D.: 

"Philadelphia, Pa. 
"My Dear Doctor Coles — Most happy do I count myself in 
possessing 'The Light of the World.' It has all those same fine 
characteristics which so richly mark 'The Evangel.' It must be a 
source of supreme delight to the accomplished author that he has 
been permitted to complete a work so lofty in design, and so admir- 
able in execution." 



Rev. Alfred Spencer Patton, D. D. (i 825-1888), author,, 
editor of " The Baptist Weekly," etc.: 



"Our good and gifted friend, Dr. Abraham Coles, has every 
reason to be gratified with the highly complimentary notices by 
the press, of his last work, 'The Light of the World,' it being the 
second volume or completion of his life of Jesus, as told by the 
evangelists. " 

The Hon. Joseph P. Bradley, LL. D., one of the 
Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States : 

"Washington, D. C, Dec. 14, 1884. 
" Dear Doctor — I have read nearly all of your beautiful book, 
' The Life and Teachings of Our Lord, in Verse,' and like it better 
the longer I read it. You had two rocks to avoid: on one side pro- 
saic tameness, which might be incurred by too rigid an adherence to 
the text; on the other rashness in attempting (even poetical) changes 
of consecrated forms of expression — changes which no English or 
American ear would endure. I appreciate the difficulty of the task,, 
and think you have performed it wonderfully well." 

John G. Whittier : 

"Amesbury, Mass., January, 1885. 
" 'The Light of the World' I have read with interest. Thy 
poetical version of the wonderful narrative seems to be conscien- 
tiously faithful to the original, while at the same time it success- 
fully interprets some passages which are not clear to the ordinary 
reader. It will be a helpful book to many, who will realize, for the 
first time, the true meaning and significance of the Lord's words* 
I am, with high respect and esteem, thy friend." 



The Right Honorable John Bright, M. P., England : 



" 132 Picadilly, London, April 30, 1885. 
" Dear Dr. Coles — When I began to read your volume on 'The 
Life and Teachings of Christ in Verse,' I thought you had attempted 
to gild the refined gold, and would fail — as I proceeded in my read- 
ing that idea gradually disappeared, and I discovered that you had 
brought the refined gold together in a manner convenient and useful 
and deeply interesting. • I have read the volume with all its notes, 
many of which seem to me of great value. I could envy you the 
learning and the industry that have enabled you to produce this 
remarkable work. I hope it may have many readers in all countries 
where our language is spoken." 

The Rev. Henry Griggs Weston, D. D., author and 
editor, President of the Crozer Theological Seminary, 
Chester, Pennsylvania : 

" Your work, 'The Life and Teachings of Our Lord.' is one of 
the gratifying fruits of the study which the Gospels have received 
since I first began to inquire for helps to their understanding." 

The Rev. Horatius Bonar, D. D.: 

"10 Palmerston Road, Grange, Edinburgh. 
* * * * "I am struck with your command of language, and 
your skill in clothing the simplicities of history with the elegance of 
poetry. It (' The Life and Teachings of Our Lord in Verse') is no 
ordinary volume, and your notes are of a very high order indeed — 
admirably written, and full of philosophical thought and Scriptural 
research." 



The Rev. Alexander McLaren, D. D.: 

" Manchester, Eng., Nov. 3, 1885. 
"Dear Sir — I congratulate you on having accomplished with such 
success a most difficult undertaking; and on having been able to 
present the inexhaustible life in a form so new and original. I do 
not know whether I have been most struck by the careful and fine 
exegetical study, or the graceful versification of your work. I trust 
it (' The Life and Teachings of Our Lord in Verse') may be use- 
ful, not only in attracting the people, which George Herbert thought 
could be caught with a song, when they would run from a ser- 
mon, but may also help lovers of the sermon to see its subject in a 
new garb." 

Adele M. Fielde, missionary at Swatow, China : 

" Those whose judgment is of value have given Dr. Coles' trans- 
lations of the Latin hymns such high praise, that words of commend- 
ation from me would appear presumptuous. I am glad, for the 
world's sake, that the wonderful Latin hymns were written, and that 
Dr. Coles has so translated them, and I am glad for my own sake 
that I have them to read. * * * * I think Dr. Coles has done 
an excellent thing for us in his ' Life and Teachings of Our Lord.' " 

Elizabeth Clementine Kinney, author and poet, wife 
of Hon. William Burnet Kinney; and, by her first 
husband, Edmund B. Stedman, the mother of Edmund 
Clarence Stedman, the distinguished poet and critic : 

"Dr. Coles long ago established a high reputation in both worlds, 
by his matchless translations of that famous old judgment hymn, 
the 'Dies Irse,' and of mediaeval hymns, published under the title of 
'Old Gems in New Settings;' also by his unique original poem, 



" The Microcosm,' which has glorified by immortal verse this mortal 
body, so fearfully and wonderfully made that every part harmonizes 
with the poet's song. In 'The Evangel' and 'The Light of the 
World,' already noticed by 'The Observer,' while conscientiously 
adhering to the sacred text, Dr. Coles' frequent elaborate notes give 
freedom to some original suggestions growing out of the author's 
fifty years' devout study of the Bible. It will be well to heed any 
proposition brought forward by one who has been so long a reverent 
student as to have become a profound thinker, and thus an able 
teacher of the divine word. Every thought or idea advanced by 
Dr. Coles will, doubtless, on thorough, unprejudiced investigation, 
be found supported by a reasonable interpretation of Scripture. 
Between the acts of this sacred drama there are also some hymnal 
excursions, which show the height and depth, the color and light, 
the melody and ecstasy, of the true Christian poet. Through his 
many works, one noble aim is ever apparent, viz.: to 'crown Him 
Lord of all' who is 'the author and finisher of our faith' and 'the 
giver of every good and perfect gift.' Noticeable, too, through all, 
is progression, in respect of enlargement by study and thought ; 
of advancement with advancing years, keeping pace with the age 
in increasing light so far as it develops heavenly truth, and 
original conception through truth." 

" The Book Buyer," Charles Scribner's Sons, New 
York: 

" 'The Hebrew Psalms in English Verse.' By Abraham Coles, 
M. D., LL.D. Dr. Coles has won praise from some of the most 
eminent of critics for his translations into English of the ' Dies 
Irae,' the characteristics of the work being faithfulness to the spirit 
of the original, combined with a command of rich and rythmic Eng- 
lish. His tastes have led him to translate the great Hebrew classic 
into English verse, a task of unusual difficulty which many have 



undertaken, but in which few have attained even partial success. 
Dr. Coles's work will attract wide attention by reason of its lofty reli- 
gious spirit, its admirable reflection of the incomparably fine flavor 
of the original, its dignified, stately diction and the scholarly care 
bestowed upon every line. The book, moreover, has an additional 
value in the prefatory matter which includes an essay on the char- 
acter of the Psalms, a detailed account of the French, English and 
Scotch metrical versions of the Psalms and a chapter of interesting 
notes, critical, historical and biographical. An admirable steel 
portrait of Dr. Coles serves as a frontispiece to the book." 

Rev. Theodore L. Cuyler, D. D., LL. D.: 

" Dear Dr. Coles — Your volume on the Psalms is a noble work, 
and the introduction is rich and sweet as a honeycomb. Two Sab- 
baths ago I gave out from my pulpit your fine hymn, ' Lo, I am with 
you all the days,' and told the congregation some things about the 
author. * * * * You will be quite at home up among heaven's 
choir of psalmists and chosen singers." 

The "New York Tribune": 

" 'A New Rendering of the Hebrew Psalms into English Verse,, 
with Notes, Critical, Historical and Biographical, including an 
Historical Sketch of the French, English and Scotch Metrical 
Versions,' by Dr. Abraham Coles. Dr. Coles' name on the 
title-page is a sufficient indication of the excellence and thorough- 
ness of the work done. Indeed, Dr. Coles has done much more 
than produce a fresh, vigorous and harmonious version of the 
Psalms, though this was alone well worth doing. His full and schol- 
arly notes on the early versions of Clement Marot, Sternhold and 
Hopkins and others, his sketches of eminent persons connected in 
various ways with particular psalms, his literary and bibliographical 



information, together impart a value and interest to this work 
which should insure an extensive circulation for it. Very much of 
the historical and other matter thus brought within the reach of the 
public is inaccessible to such as have not means of access to public 
libraries, and there is certainly no Christian household in the coun- 
try which would not find both pleasure and instruction in Dr. 
Coles' compendious and altogether unique volume. It may be 
added that in his version of the Psalms he has wisely preserved the 
rhythmical swing and the terse language which distinguish the early 
renderings, and that therefore those who have been reared on the 
old versions need not fear rinding their favorites changed ' out of 
knowledge.' " 

The Rev. Frederic W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S., Chap- 
lain in Ordinary to the Queen, author of the " Life of 
Christ," etc., in a letter to Dr. Coles : 

" 17, Dean's Yard, Westminster, S. W. 
"The task of versifying the Psalms was too much even for 
Milton, but you have attempted it with seriousness and with as 
much success as seems to be possible. I was much interested in 
your introduction." 

The Rev. A. H. Turtle, D. D., pastor of the First 
Methodist Episcopal Church, Wilkesbarre, Pa.: 

" 'The Life and Teachings of Our Lord, in verse,' has greatly 
aided me in my efforts to interpret heavenly things. I am glad you 
have lived to complete your versification of the Psalms. I am now 
making a protracted and careful study of the old Hebrew Hymn 
Book, and your work will be of untold help to me. I have already 
read my favorite psalms as you sing them. They are rich beyond 
expression." 



The Rev. Charles S. Robinson, D. D.: 

"I have read many of your really excellent versions of the 
Psalms. It seems to me you have added richly to our available 
literature in that direction. I have been specially interested, also, 
in the prefaced notes. Some of the information is quite new to me, 
and the comments are all good and helpful." 

Hon. George Hay Stuart, the eminent philanthropist 
in January, 1888, wrote from Philadelphia : 

" 'The New Rendering of the Hebrew Psalms into English 
Verse,' I prize very much. It is exceedingly good and very suggest 
ive. The subject matter is of peculiar interest to me. I have been 
brought up, as perhaps you know, in old Rouse's version of the 
Psalms, but never held the view, that many do, that nothing else can 
be sung in the praise of God. Our own congregation, up to recently, 
used nothing but that version. Now we have so far advanced that 
we sing, also, hymns and spiritual songs. # # # # Xh e United 
Presbyterian Assembly has recently adopted a new version of the 
Psalms, but I think their leading men ought to see this version." 

The Rev. D. R. Frazer, D. D., pastor of the First 
Presbyterian Church, of Newark, N. J.: 

" My Dear Dr. Coles — I do not know that I can give any better 
expression of my appreciation of your last work than to say that my 
wife and I sat up until after midnight, reading psalm after psalm 
with very great delight. The versification is beautiful, and its beauty 
intensifies by its fidelity to the common version. Hoping the book 
may do much good, in making manifest the beauties of one of the 
most beautiful portions of the Word of God, I am, with great 
respect, ever sincerely yours." 



Charles M. Davis, Secretary of the American Institute 
of Christian Philosophy, Superintendent of Public 
Schools, Essex county, N. J., etc.: 

" Dear Dr. Coles — During the past year I have been reading the 
revised version of the Psalms, in connection with the received. 
Your translations will be a help to me, as I do not understand 
Hebrew. I have read your introduction very carefully, and find it 
contains especially valuable information, as do, also, your occasional 
notes. The psalms that I have read aloud in the family have been 
greatly enjoyed, especially the 107th, 136th and 137th. We are 
anticipating much pleasure from the continuance of this during the 
winter evenings." 

The Rev. A. H. Lewis, D. D., editor of "The Outlook 
and Sabbath Quarterly": 

"I have been greatly interested in the book, not only in the 
success which you have attained in versifying the Psalms, but in the 
valuable matter embodied in the introduction. I have usually found 
ic difficult to interest myself in any versification of the Psalms, 
especially in the early efforts by Watts and others. On opening 
your volume, I found myself inclined to read in detail, rather than to 
examine cursorily. It is very difficult to versify Hebrew poetry. 
The success you have attained in expressing the delicate shades of 
sentiment commands our congratulations, and may justly give you 
abundant satisfaction." 

S. W. Kershaw, F. S. A., author, librarian of the 
Lambeth Palace Library, London, England, etc.: 

"Lambeth Library, .12 June, 1888. 

<< * * * * i n t his library there is a fine collection of works 
on the liturgies, prayer-book, etc. In your ' New Rendering of the 



Hebrew Psalms Into English Verse,' I am greatly interested in the 
introduction, in reading about the psalms of Clement Marot, and in 
the allusion to the Huguenots. My little book on the ' Protestants 
from France in their English home' was kindly reviewed in one 
of your papers. * * * * " 

J. K. Hoyt, editor and author: 

" Bay View, Florida. 

" Dear Dr. Coles — I have passed a very pleasant Sunday morn- 
ing in looking over your new book. I wish you had invoked the spirit 
of Beethoven, and written the music as well as the words; for the 
proper use of a metrical version of the Psalms is to sing them. 
Still, the book is a wonderful one, and encourages me to believe that 
age is not necessarily a bar to work. I enjoy the notes much, 
and very often find myself turning from the essay to the verses 
referred to. You will leave a melodious monument behind you, my 
good Doctor." 

The Rev. George Dana Boardman, D. D.: 

■ ' My Dear Dr. Coles — I greatly admire your new book for many 
reasons : first, for its rich introduction, felicitously describing the 
character of the Psalms, giving us an exhaustive history of metrical 
versions, presenting critical, historical and biographical notes of great 
value ; secondly, for your new rendering of the Psalms, a rendering 
conscientious, mellifluous, fresh and suggestive; thirdly, and not least, 
for the frontispiece, representing one who has both the David spirit 
and the David music. Faithfully yours." 



The Rev. Lewis R. Dunn, D. D.: 

" I like the 'rhythmic flow' of the words of your work, its truths, 
its thorough orthodoxy, its blending of the results of most recent 
scholarship in lines and notes, its beautiful illustrations of the text, 
and its high intellectual and spiritual tone — a classic in our good 
old English tongue." 

Asahel Clark Kendrick, D. D., LL. D., author, Pro- 
fessor of Hebrew, Greek and Latin in the University of 
Rochester, New York : 

" In your translation of the Hebrew Psalms into English verse, 
you may well be congratulated in having thus nobly crowned 
your series of poems devoted to those themes, which aid the aspir- 
ations of the soul upward toward God and heaven, and may well 
task the highest human efforts. The renderings are in clear 
and weighty verse, fitted to the noble simplicity of the original ; and 
the notes are instructive and valuable." 

George MacDonald, author and poet : 

"London, England. 
" My dear Doctor Coles. — I send you by this post a copy of 
my little book on the religious poetry of England. I am sure you 
will find a good deal to sympathize with in it. * * * I am sorry 
to say I have not yet received your book, which I should like much 
to see after the taste you gave me, sheltered and ministered unto 
by you and yours. Let me hope I may once more be your guest, 
and that you may be ours. Believe in my love and gratitude. 
Yours, with sincere affection." 



The Rev. Philip Schaff, D. D., LL. D., in " Literature 
and Poetry," Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1890 : 

"A physician, Abraham Coles, prepared between 1847 and 1859 
thirteen versions (of the ' Dies Irae '), six of which are in the trochaic 
measure and double rhyme of the original, five in the same rhythm, 
but in single rhyme, one in iambic triplets, like Roscommon's, the 
last in quatrains, like Crashaw's version. Two appeared anony- 
mously in the Newark 'Daily Advertiser,' the first one in 1847, 
and a part of it found its way into Mrs. Stowe's ' Uncle Tom's 
Cabin ; ' subsequently this version was set to music in Henry 
Ward Beecher's ' Plymouth Collection of Hymns and Tunes.' 
The thirteen versions were first published together with an in- 
troduction in 1859. He has since published three additional ver- 
sions in double rhyme, New York, 1881, in 'The Microcosm and 
Other Poems.' In August, 1889, he made one more version in 
single rhyme and four lines. These seventeen versions show a 
rare fertility and versatility, and illustrate the possibilities of 
variation, without altering the sense. Dr. Coles, in the eleventh 
stanza of his first translation of 1847, had anticipated Irons, 
Peries, and Dix: 

" ' Righteous Judge of retribution, 
Make me gift of absolution 
Ere that day of execution.' 

* * * "Dr. Abraham Coles, of Scotch Plains, N. J., the suc- 
cessful translator of ' Dies Irae,' and ' Stabat Mater,' has reproduced, 
but has not yet (1889), published, all the passion hymns of St. 
Bernard." 



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